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THE HOUSE WHERE THE FIRST AMERICAN FLAG WAS MADE. 



AMERICAN PIONEERS AND PATRIOTS. 



George Washington; 



OR, 



Life in America One Hundred Years Ago. 



BY , 



JOHN S. C. ABBOTT. 



ILLUSTRATED. 






NEW YORK: '^ 
DODD & MEAD, PUBLISHERS, 
751 Broadway. 






Copyright, J)odd & Mead, 1875. 



PREFACE. 



As Columbus and La Salle were the most 
prominent of the Pioneers of America, so was 
Washington the most illustrious of its Patriots. 
In the career of Columbus we have a vivid sketch 
of life in the tropical portions of the New World 
four hundred years ago. 

The adventures of La Salle, in exploring this 
continent two hundred years ago, from the North- 
ern Lakes to the Mexican Gulf, are almost without 
parallel, even in the pages of romance. His narrative 
gives information, such as can nowhere else be 
found, of the native inhabitants, their number, 
character, and modes of life when the white man 
first reached these shores. 

The history of George Washington is as replete 
with marvels as that of either of his predecessors. 
The world during the last century has made 



4 PREFACE. 

more progress than during the preceding five. 
The life of Washington reveals to us, in a remark- 
able degree, the state of society in our land, the 
manners and customs of the people, their joys and 
griefs, one hundred years ago. 

We search history in vain to find a parallel 
to Washington. As a statesman, as a general, 
as a thoroughly good man, he stands pre-eminent. 
He was so emphatically the Father of his country 
that it may almost be said that he created the 
Republic. And now, that we are about to celebrate 
the Centennial of these United States- — the most 
favored nation upon which the sun shines — it is 
fitting that we should recall, with grateful hearts, 
the memory of our illustrious benefactor George 
Washington, 



George Washington. 



CHAPTER I. 

The Youth of George Washington, 

Lawrence and John Washington — Their Emigration — Augustine 
Washington — His Marriage with Jane Ball — Birth of George — 
The Parental Home — The Scenery — Anecdotes — The Mother of 
Washington — Education — Lord Fairfax — The Surveying Tour — 
George at the age of seventeen years — The Mansion of Lord 
Fairfax — Contrast between the English and the French — British 
Desperadoes — The Ferocity of War — Military Organization — 
Claims of France and England — Scenes of Woe — Heroic Excur- 
sion of Washington to the Ohj^, 

About two centuries ago there were two young 
men, in England, by the name of Lawrence and 
John Washington. They were gentlemen of refine- 
ment and education, the sons of an opulent and 
distinguished family. Lawrence was a graduate of 
Oxford University, and was, by profession, a lawyer, 
John entered into commercial and mercantile affairs, 
and was an accomplished man of business. The 

X* 



10 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

renown of Virginia, named after Elizabeth, En- 
gland's virgin queen, was then luring many, even of 
the most illustrious in wealth and rank, to the 
shores of the New World. Lawrence and John 
embarked together, to seek their fortunes on the 
banks of the Potomac."^ 

It was a lovely morning in summer when the 
ship entered Chesapeake Bay, and sailing up that 
majestic inland sea, entered the silent, solitary, 
forest-fringed Potomac. Eagerly they gazed upon 
the Indian wigwams which were clustered upon the 
banks of many a sheltered and picturesque cove ; 
and upon the birch canoes, which were propelled by 
the painted and plumed natives over the placid 
waters. The two brothers purchased an extensive 
tract of land, on the Avestern bank of the Potomac, 
about fifty miles above its entrance into the bay. 
Here, with an estate of thousands of acres spreading 
around them, and upon a spot commanding a mag- 
nificent view of the broad river and the sublime 
forests, they reared their modest but comfortable 
mansion. 

* " There is no doubt that the politics of the family determined 
the two brothers, John and Lawrence, to emigrate to Virginia ; that 
colony being the favorite resort of the Cavaliers, during the govern- 
ment of Cromwell, as New England was the retreat of the Puritans, 
in the period which preceded the Commonwealth. — Life of Wash- 
ington, by Edward Everett, p. 24. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. II 

John married Miss Pope. We have none of the 
details of their Hves, full of incidents of intensest 
interest to them, but of Httle importance to the 
community at large. Life is ever a tragedy. From 
the times of the patriarchs until now, it has been, to 
most of the families of earth, a stormy day with a 
few gleams of sunshine breaking through the clouds. 
Children were born and children died. There were 
the joys of the bridal and the tears of the funeral. 

Upon the death of John Washington, his second 
son, Augustine, remained at home in charge of the 
paternal acres. He seems to have been, like his 
father, a very worthy man, commanding the respect 
of the community, which was rapidly increasing 
around him. He married Jane Butler, a young lady 
who is described as remarkably beautiful, intelligent- 
and lovely in character. A very happy union was 
sadly terminated by the early death of Jane. A 
broken-hearted husband and three little children 
were left to weep over her grave. 

The helpless orphans needed another mother. 
One was found in Mary Ball. She was all that 
husband or children could desire. Subsequent 
events drew the attention of the whole nation, and 
almost of the civilized world, to Mary Washington, 
for she became the mother of that George, whose 
name is enshrined in the hearts of countless millions. 



12 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It is the uncontradicted testimony that the mother 
of George Washington was, by instinct and culture, a 
lady ; she had a superior mind, well disciplined by 
study, and was a cheerful, devout Christian. 

Augustine and Mary were married on the Cth 
of March, 1730. They received to their arms their 
first-born child, to whom the name of George was 
given, on the 22d of February, 1732. Little did the 
parents imagine that their babe would go out into 
the world, from the seclusion of his home amid the 
forests of the Potomac, to render the name of Wash- 
ington one of the most illustrious in the annals of 
our race. 

George Washington was pecuHarly fortunate in 
both father and mother. All the influences of home 
tended to ennoble him. Happiness in childhood is 
one of the most essential elements in the formation 
of a good character. This child had ever before him 
the example of all domestic and Christian virtues. 
The parental home consisted of a spacious, one- 
story cottage, with a deep veranda in front. It was, 
architecturally, an attractive edifice, and it occupied 
one of the most lovely sites on the banks of the 
beautiful and majestic Potomac. 

Soon after the birth of George, his father moved 
from the banks of the Potomac to the Rappahannock, 
nearly opposite the present site of Fredericksburg. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 3 

Here he died, on the 12th of April, 1743, at the age 
of forty-nine. 

The banks of the Rappahannock were covered 
with forests, spreading in grandeur over apparently 
an interminable expanse of hills and vales. In those 
days there were but few spots, in that vast region, 
which the axe of the settler had opened to the sun. 
But the smoke from the Indian camp-fires could 
often be seen curling up from the glooms of the 
forests, and the canoes of Indian hunters and war- 
riors often arrested the eye, as they were gliding 
swiftly over the mirrored waters. 

Trained by such parents, and in such a home, 
George, from infancy, developed a noble character. 
He was a handsome boy, gentlemanly in his manners, 
of finely developed figure, and of animated, intelli- 
gent features. His physical strength, frankness, 
moral courage, courtesy, and high sense of honor, 
made him a general favorite. Every child has 
heard the story of his trying the keen edge of his 
hatchet upon one of the favorite cherry trees of his 
father's, and of his refusal to attempt to conceal the 
fault by a lie.* 

* The pleasing story may easily be perverted. A little boy, hav- 
ing read it, deliberately took his hatchet, went into the garden, and 
utterly destroyed a valuable young pear tree. Then entering the 
house, he said, while his face was beaming with satisfaction, " Grand- 
papa, it was I who spoiled your pear tree." Inexpressible was the 



14 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Augustine Lawrence, the father of George, died 
when his son was but twelve years of age. Mary, a 
grief-stricken widow, was left with six fatherless 
chidren. She proved herself amply competent to 
discharge the weighty responsibilities thus devolv- 
ing upon her. George ever honored his mother as 
one who had been to him a guardian angel. In 
her daily life she set before him a pattern of every 
virtue. She instilled into his susceptible mind 
those principles of probity and piety which ever 
ornamented his character, and to which he was in- 
debted for success in the wonderful career upon 
which he soon entered. 

In the final division of the parental property, 
Lawrence, the eldest child of Jane Butler, received 
the rich estate called Mount Vernon, which included 
twenty-five hundred acres of land. George received, 
as his share, the house and lands on the Rappa- 
hannock. The paternal mansion in Westmoreland 
passed to Augustine. ^ 

Lady Washington, as she was called, was deemed, 
before her marriage, one of the most beautiful girls 
in Virginia. Through all the severe discipline of 

astonishment aVid chagrin of my dear little grandson, on receiv- 
ing a severe reprimand, and a prohibition from again going into 
the garden for a week. He could not understand M'hy he should 
be censured, for that for which George Washington was so abun- 
dantly praised. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 5 

life, she developed a character of the highest excel- 
lence. And thus she obtained an influence over 
the mind of her son, which she held, unimpaired, 
until the day of her death. 

The wealthy families of Virginia took much 
pride in their equipage, and especially in the beauty 
of the horses which drew their massive carriages. 
Lady Washington had a span of iron-grays, of splen- 
did figure and remarkable spirit, and of which she 
was very fond. One of these, though very docile by 
the side of his mate in the carriage harness, had 
never been broken to the saddle. It was said that 
the spirited animal would allow no one to mount 
him. George, though then a lad of but thirteen 
years of age, was tall, strong, and very athletic. 

One morning, as the colts were feeding upon the 
lawn, George, who had some companions visiting 
him, approached the high-blooded steed, and after 
soothing him for some time with caresses, watched 
his opportunity and leaped upon his back. The 
colt, for a moment, seemed stupefied with surprise 
and indignation. Then, after a few desperate, but 
unavailing attempts, by rearing and plunging, to 
throw his rider, he dashed over the fields with the 
speed of the wind. 

George, glorying in his achievement, and incon- 
siderate of the peril to which he was exposing the 



1 6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

animal, gave the frantic steed the rein. When the 
horse began to show signs of exhaustion, he urged 
him on, hoping thus to subdue him to perfect 
dociHty. The result was that a blood-vessel was 
burst, and the horse dropped dead beneath his rider. 
George, greatly agitated by the calamity, hastened 
to his mother with the tidings. Her characteristic 
reply was : 

" My son, I forgive you, because you have had 
the courage to tell me the truth at once. Had you 
skulked away, I should have despised you." 

In school studies George was a diligent scholar, 
though he did not manifest any special brilliance, 
either in his power of acquiring or communicating 
information. He was endowed with a good mind, of 
well balanced powers. Such a mind is probably far 
more desirable, as promotive of both happiness and 
usefulness, than one conspicuous for the excrescences 
of what is called genius. He left school the autumn 
before he was sixteen.* 

There is still in existence a manuscript book, which 
singularly illustrates his intelligence, his diligence, 

* *• During the last summer that he was at school, we find him 
surveying the fields around the school house, and in the adjoining 
plantations, of which the boundaries, angles, and measurements, the 
plots and calculations, are entered with formality and precision in his 
books. He used logarithms, and proved the accuracy of his work by 
different methods." — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 6. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 1 7 

and his careful business habits. This lad of thirteen 
had, of his own accord, carefully copied, as a guide 
for himself in future life, promissory notes, bills of 
sale, land warrants, leases, wills, and many other such 
business papers. Thus he was prepared, at any 
time, to draw up such legal documents as any of the 
farmers around might need. 

In another manuscript book he had collected, 
with great care, the m«st important rules of eti- 
quette which govern in good society.* Had some 
good angel whispered in the ear of George, at that 
early age, that he was in manhood to enter upon as 
sublime a career as mortal ever trod, and soaring 

* There were fifty-four of these rules. All were important. We 
give a few as specimens. 

Read no letters, books, or papers, in company. But when there is 
a necessity for doing it you must ask leave. 

Show yourself not glad at the misfortune of another, though he 
were your enemy. 

Strive not with your superiors., in argument, but always submit 
your judgment to others with modesty. 

Use no reproachful language against any one. 

Associate yourself with men of good quality, if you esteem your 
own reputation ; for it is better to be alone than in bad company. 

Speak not of doleful things in time of mirth, nor at the table. 
Speak not of melancholy things, as death and wounds, and if others 
mention them, change, if you can, the discourse. 

When another speaks, be attentive yourself, and disturb not the 
audience. If any hesitate in his words, help him not, nor prompt him 
without being desired. Interrupt him not, nor answer him till his 
speech be ended. 

Labor to keep alive in your breast that little spark of celestial 
fire called conscience. 



1 8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

above the rank of nobles, was to take position with 
kings and emperors, he could hardly have made 
better preparations for these responsibilities than his 
own instincts led him to make. 

It may be almost said of George Washington, as 
Lamartine said of Louis Philippe, that he had no 
youth ; he was born a man. At sixteen years of 
age George finished his school education. And 
though a Virginia school, in that day, and in the 
midst of so sparse a population, could not have 
been one of high character, George, by his inherent 
energies, had made acquisitions of practical knowl- 
edge which enabled him, with honor, to fill the 
highest stations to which one, in this world, can be 
elevated.* 

George was fond of mathematical and scientific 
studies, and excelled in all those branches. With 
these tastes he was led to enter upon the profession 
of a civil engineer. There was great demand for 
such services, in the new and almost unexplored 
realms of Virginia, where the population was rapidly 
increasing and spreading farther and farther back 
into the wilderness. Notwithstanding the extreme 
youth of George, he immediately found ample and 

* "At the age of fifteen, Washington received the appointment of 
midshipman, in the British navy, but surrendered it, at the earnest 
desire of his mother." — National Portrait Galkry, vol. i. p. 3. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. I9 

remunerative employment ; for his commanding sta- 
ture, and dignity of character, caused him every- 
where to be regarded as an accompHshed man. 

His handwriting was as plain as print. Every 
document which came from his pen was perfect 
in spelling, punctuation, capitals, and the proper 
division into paragraphs. This accuracy, thus early 
formed, he retained through Hfe. 

Upon leaving school at Westmoreland, George 
ascended the river to visit his elder brother Lawrence, 
at Mount Vernon. It was then, as now, a lovely spot 
on the western bank of the river, commanding an en- 
chanting view of land and water. Mr. William Fair- 
fax, an English gentleman of wealth and high rank, 
had purchased a large tract of land in that vicinity, 
and had reared his commodious mansion at a distance 
of about eight miles from Mount Vernon. The 
aristocratic planters of the region around were 
frequent guests at his hospi-table home. Lawrence 
Washington married one of his daughters. 

Lawrence Washington was suddenly attacked 
with a painful and alarming sickness. A change of 
climate was recommended. With fraternal love 
George accompaned his brother to the West Indies. 
The invalid continued to fail, through the tour, and 
soon after reaching home died. Lawrence was a 
man of great excellence of character. His amia- 



20 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

bility rendered his home one of peculiar happiness. 
At the early age of thirty-four he died, leaving an 
infant child, and a youthful widow stricken with 
grief. He left a large property. The valuable 
estate of Mount Vernon he bequeathed to his 
infant daughter. Should she die without heirs, it 
was to revert to his brother George, who was also 
appointed executor of the estate. 

Lord Fairfax visited William, his younger brother, 
and was so pleased with the country, and surprised 
at the cheapness with which its fertile acres could 
be bought, that he purchased an immense territory, 
which extended over unexplored regions of the 
interior, including mountains, rivers, and valleys. 
Lord Fairfax met George Washington at his brother 
William's house. He was charmed with the manli- 
ness, intelHgence, and gentlemanly bearing of the 
young man. George was then but one month over 
sixteen years of age. And yet Lord Fairfax engaged 
him to survey these pathless wilds, where scarcely 
an emigrant's cabin could be found, and which were 
ranged by ferocious beasts, and by savages often 
still more ferocious. It may be doubted whether a 
boy of his age was ever before intrusted with a task 
so arduous. 

It was in the month of March, in the year 1748, 
when George Washington, with an Indian guide and 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 21 

a few white attendants, commenced the survey. 
The crests of the mountains were still whitened with 
ice and snow. Chilling blasts swept the plains. The 
streams were swollen into torrents by the spring 
rains. The Indians, however, whose hunting parties 
ranged these forests, were at that time friendly. 
Still there were vagrant bands, wandering here and 
there, ever ready to kill and plunder. The enter- 
prise upon which Washington had entered was one 
full of romance, toil, and peril. It required the exer- 
cise of constant vigilance and sagacity. 

Though these wilds may be called pathless, still 
there were here and there narrow trails, which the 
moccasined foot of the savage had trodden for un- 
counted centuries. They led in a narrow track, 
scarcely two feet in breadth, through dense thickets, 
over craggy hills, and along the banks of placid 
streams or foaming torrents. The heroic boy must 
have found, in these scenes of solitude, beauty, and 
grandeur, some hours of exquisite enjoyment. In a 
sunny spring morning he would glide down some 
placid river, in the birch canoe, through enchanting 
scenery, the banks fringed with bloom and verdure. 
There were towering mountains, from whose emi- 
nences, the eye embraced as magnificent a region of 
lake and forest, river and plain, as this globe can any- 
where present. 



22 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It was generally necessary to camp out at night, 
wherever darkness might overtake them. With 
their axes a rude cabin was easily constructed, roofed 
with bark, which afforded a comfortable shelter from 
wind and rain. The forest presented an ample sup- 
ply of game. Delicious brook trout were easily 
taken from the streams. Exercise and fresh air 
gave appetite. With a roaring fire crackling before 
the camp, illumining the forest far and wide, the ad- 
venturers cooked their supper, and ate it with a relish 
which the pampered guests in lordly banqueting 
halls have seldom experienced. Their sleep was 
probably more sweet than was ever found on beds of 
down. Occasionally the party would find shelter for 
the night in the wigwam of the friendly Indian. 

Strange must have been the emotions which at 
times agitated the bosom of this pensive, reflective, 
heroic boy, as at midnight, far away from the haunts 
of civilization, in the wigwam of the savage, he lis- 
tened to the wailings of the storm, interrupted only 
by the melancholy cry of the night bird, and the 
howl of wolves and other unknown beasts of prey. 
By the flickering light of the wigwam fire, he saw, 
sharing his couch, the dusky forms of the Indian 
hunter, his squaw, and his pappooses. Upon one or 
two occasions they found the lonely cabin of some 
bold frontiersmen, who had plunged into the wilder- 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 23 

ness, and who was living at but one remove above 
the condition of the savage. From the journal 
which he kept we make the following extract, under 
date of March 15, 1748. He is describing a night 
at an emigrant's cabin. 

" Worked hard till night, and then returned. 
After supper we were lighted into a room ; and I, 
being not so good a woodman as the rest, stripped 
myself very orderly, and went into the bed, as they 
call it, when, to my surprise, I found it to be noth- 
ing but a little straw matted together, without sheet 
or anything else, but only one thread bare blanket, 
with double its weight of vermin. I was glad to get 
up and put on my clothes, and he as my companions 
did. Had we not been very tired, I am sure we 
should, not have slept much that night. I made a 
promise to sleep no more in a bed, choosing rather 
to sleep in the open air before a fire." 

One night, after a very hard day's work, when 
soundly sleeping, his camp and bed, which were 
made of the most combustible materials, took fire, and 
he very narrowly escaped being consumed in the 
flames. After spending several months on the sur- 
vey, he wrote to a friend in the following strain : 

*' The receipt of your kind letter of the 2d instant 
afforded me unspeakable pleasure. It convinces me 
that I am still in the memory of so worthy a friend ; 



24 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

a friendship I shall ever be proud of increasing. Yours 
gave me the more pleasure, as I received it among 
barbarians and an uncouth set of people. Since you 
received my letter of October last, I have not slept 
above three or four nights in a bed. But after walk- 
ing a good deal all the day, I have lain down before 
the fire, on a little hay, straw, fodder, or bearskin, 
whichever was to be had, with man, wife, and chil- 
dren, like dogs and cats and happy is he who gets 
the berth nearest the fire. I have never had my 
clothes off, but have lain and slept in them, except 
the few nights I have been in Fredericksburg." 

Such experiences not only develop, but rapidly 
create character. George returned, from the suc- 
cessful accompHshment of this arduous enterprise, 
with all his manly energies consolidated. Though 
but seventeen years of age, he was a mature, self- 
reliant man, prepared to assume any of the responsi- 
bilities of manhood. 

The imperial State of Virginia needed a public 
surveyor. This lad of seventeen years had already 
risen so high in the estimation of the community, 
that he was appointed to that responsible office. 
For three years he performed, with singular ability, 
the duties which thus devolved upon him. Great 
must have been the enjoyment which he found, in 
the field of labor thus opened before him. The 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 25 

scenes to which he was introduced must have been, 
at times, quite enchanting. The wonderful scenery 
presented to the eye in beautiful Virginia, the deli- 
cious climate, the grandeur of the star-bespangled 
sky, as witnessed from the- midnight encampment, 
the majestic forests abounding in game, the placid 
lake, whose mirrored waters were covered with water- 
fowl of every variety of gorgeous plumage, the silent 
river, along which the Indian's birch canoe glided 
almost as a meteor — all these infinitely diversified 
scenes must, at times, have entranced a young man 
in the vigor of youth and health, and buoyant with 
the spirit of high enterprise. 

Lord Fairfax had become the firm friend of 
George Washington. The opulent English noble- 
man had reared for himself a large and architectu- 
rally beautiful rhansion of stone, beyond the Blue 
Ridge, in one of the most sheltered, sunny, and lovely 
valleys of the AUeghanies. This beautiful world of 
ours can present no region more attractive than 
that in which Lord Fairfax constructed his transat- 
lantic home.* 

* " Lord Fairfax was a man of cultivated mind, educated at Oxford, 
the associate of the wits in London, the author of one or two papers 
in the " Spectator," and a habitue oi the polite circles of the metropolis. 
A disappointment in love is said to have cast a shadow over his after 
life, and to have led him to pass his time in voluntary exile on his 
Virginia estates." — Everett's Life of Washington, p. 41. 



26 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

His opulence enabled him to live there in splen- 
dor quite baronial. Many illustrious families had 
emigrated to this State of wonderful beauty and 
inexhaustible capabilities. There was no colony, on 
this continent, which could present more cultivated 
and polished society than Virginia. Distinguished 
guests frequented the parlors of Lord Fairfax. 
Among them all, there were none more honored 
than George Washington. He was one of the hand- 
somest and most dignified of men, and a gentleman 
by birth, by education, and by all his instincts. 

The tide of emigration, pouring in a constant 
flood across the Atlantic, was now gradually forcing 
its way over the first range of the Alleghanies, into 
the fertile and delightful valleys beyond. Still 
farther west there were realms, much of which no 
white man's foot had ever trod, and whose bounda- 
ries no one knew. 

The French, who were prosperously established 
in Canada, and who, by their wise policy, had effect- 
ually won the confidence and affection of the natives, 
were better acquainted with this vast region than 
were the English ; and they much more fully appre- 
ciated its wonderful capabilities. And still the Eng- 
lish colonies, in population, exceeded those of the 
French ten to one. 

Almost from the beginning, the relations of the 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 2/ 

English with the natives were hostile. And it can 
not be denied that the fault was with the EngHsh. 
The Indians were very desirous of friendly intercourse. 
It was an unspeakable advantage to them, and they 
highly prized it, to be able to exchange their furs for 
the kettles, hatchets, knives, guns, powder and shot 
of the English. With the bullet they could strike 
down the deer at three times the distance to which 
they could throw an arrow. The shrewd Indian, 
who had used flints only to cut with, could well ap- 
preciate the value of a hatchet and a knife. 

Our Puritan fathers were very anxious to treat 
the Indians with brotherly kindness. And so were 
the governmental authorities generally in all the col- 
onies. But there was no strength in the Christian 
principles of good men, or in the feeble powers which 
were established in the colonies, to pursue, arrest, 
and punish the desperadoes who, from the frontiers, 
penetrated the wilderness with sword and rifle, shot 
down the Indians, plundered the wigwams, and in- 
flicted every outrage upon their wives and daughters. 
No candid man can read an account of these out- 
rages without saying : 

'' Had I been an Indian I would have joined in 
any conspiracy, and would have strained every nerve, 
to exterminate such wretches from the land they 
were polluting.'* 



28 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The untaught natives could draw no fine dis- 
tinctions. When the Indian hunter returned to 
his wigwam, and found it plundered and in ashes, his 
eldest son dead and weltering in blood, and heard 
from his wife and daughters the story of their 
wrongs, he could make no distinction between the 
miscreants who had perpetrated the demoniac deed, 
and the Christian white men who deplored such 
atrocities and who implored God to interpose and 
prevent them. The poor Indian could only say: 

*' The white man has thus wronged me. Oh, 
thou Great Spirit, whenever I meet the white man, 
wilt thou help me to take vengeance." 

Increasing population increased these outrages. 
There was no law in the wilderness. These British 
desperadoes regarded no more the restraints of 
religion than did the bears and the wolves. They 
behaved like demons, and they roused the demoniac 
spirit in the savages. Crime was followed by crime, 
cruelty by cruelty, blood by blood. But for man's 
inhumanity to man beautiful Virginia, with her 
brilliant skies, her salubrious air, her fertile fields, 
her crystal streams, her majestic mountains, her 
sublime forests, her placid lakes, might have been 
almost like the Garden of Eden. If the heart of 
man had been imbued with the religion of Jesus, the 
whole realm might have been adorned with homes, 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 29 

in some degree, at least, like those found in the 
mansions of the blest. But the conduct of depraved 
men converted the whole region into a valley of 
Hinnom, abounding in smouldering ruins, gory 
corpses, and groans of despair. 

Rapidly, on both sides, the spirit of vengeance 
spread. The savages, with their fiend-like natures 
roused, perpetrated deeds of cruelty which demons 
could not have surpassed. They made no discrimi- 
nation. The English were to be exterminated. 
When the frontiersman was roused, at midnight, by 
the yell of the savages, and being left for dead upon 
the ground, with his scalp torn from his head, after 
some hours of stupor revived to see his cabin in 
ashes, the mangled corpses of his children strewn 
around, with their skulls cleft by the tomahawk, and 
not finding the remains of wife or daughter, was 
sure that they were carried into Indian captivity, 
perhaps to be tortured to death, for the amusement 
of howHng savages — as thus bleeding, exhausted, and 
in agony he crept along to some garrison house, he 
was in no mood to listen to the dictates of humanity. 
Thus the terrible conflict which arose, assumed the 
aspect of a war between maddened fiends. 

George Washington had attained the age of 
nineteen years. Youthful as he was, he was re- 
garded as one of the prominent men of the State of 



30 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Virginia. Every day brought reports of tragedies 
enacted in the soHtudes of the wilderness, whose 
horrors will only be fully known in that dread day 
of judgment when all secrets will be revealed. It 
became necessary to call the whole military force of 
Virginia into requisition, to protect the frontiers 
from the invasion of savage bands, who emerged 
from all points like wolves from the forest. 

The State was divided into districts. Over each 
a military commander was appointed, with the title 
of Major. George Washington was one of these 
majors. The responsibilities of these officers were 
very great, for they were necessarily invested with 
almost dictatorial powers. The savages would 
come rushing at midnight from the wilderness, 
upon some lonely cabin or feeble settlement. An 
awful scene of shrieks and flame and death would 
ensue, and the band would disappear beyond the 
reach of any avenging arm. In such a war the 
tactics of European armies could be of but little 
avail. 

The State of Virginia was then, as now, bounded 
on the west by the Ohio river, which the French 
called La Belle Riviere. England claimed nearly 
the whole North American coast, as hers by the right 
of discovery, her ships having first cruised along its 
shores. The breadth of the continent was unknown. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 3 1 

Consequently the English assumed that the con- 
tinent was theirs, from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 
whatever its breadth might be.* 

But the ships of France were the first which 
entered the river St. Lawrence; and her voyagers, 
ascending the magnificent stream, discovered that 
series of majestic lakes, whose fertile shores pre- 
sented inviting homes for countless millions. Her 
enterprising explorers, in the birch canoe, traversed 
the solitary windings of the Ohio and the Mississippi. 
Hence France claimed the whole of that immense 
valley, almost a world in itself, whose unknown 
grandeur no mind then had begun to appreciate. 

It was then a law of nations, recognized by all 
the European powers, that the discovery of a coast 
entitled the nation by whom the discovery was 
made, to the possession of that territory, to the 
exclusion of the right of any other European power. 
It was also an acknowledged principle of national 
law, that the discovery and exploration of a river en- 
titled the nation by whom this exploration was 

* Sebastian Cabot, in the year 1498, sailed from Bristol, England, 
with two ships, in the month of May. He first made land on the 
coast of Labrador. He was seeking a passage to India. Cruising 
along the shores of Nova Scotia, and the whole length of the coast of 
Maine, he rounded Cape Cod, and continued his voyage to the 
latitude of Cape Hatteras. Thence he entered upon his homeward 
voyage. — Galvano's Discoveries of the World, p. 88. London, 1601. 



32 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

made, to the whole valley, of whatever magnitude, 
which that river and its tributaries might drain.* 

These conflicting claims led to the march of 
armies, the devastations of fleets, terrific battles — 
blood, misery, and death, France, that she might 
retain a firm hold of the territory which she claimed, 
began to rear a cordon of forts, at commanding 
points, from the great lakes, down the Ohio and the 
Mississippi, until she reached the Spanish claims in 
the south. Though France had discovered the Mis- 
sissippi, in its upper waters, the Spanish chevalier, 
De Soto, had previously launched his boats near its 
entrance into the Gulf, and his tragic life was closed 
by burial beneath its waves. 

* " The French insisted on the right of discovery and occupancy, 
Father Marquette, La Salle, and others, they said, had descended the 
Mississippi, and settlements had been made south of Lake Michigan 
and on the Illinois river, years before any Englishman had set his 
foot westward of the great mountains ; and European treaties had 
repeatedly recognized the title of France to all her actual possessions 
in America. So far the ground was tenable." — Sparks' Life of Wash' 
ington. p. 20. 

But he immediately adds, in apparent contradiction to these 
statements : " It is clear that neither of the contending parties had 
any just claims to the land about which they were beginning to 
kindle the flames of war. They were both intruders upon the soil of 
the native occupants." 

This is hardly fair to either party. Neither France nor England 
claimed the territory, to the exclusion of the rights of the original 
inhabitants. Their only claim extended to the right of purchasing 
the territory from the Indians, of trading with them, and of establish- 
ing colonies. And this right all the maritime nations of Europe 
recognized. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 33 

An awful struggle, which caused as great woes 
perhaps as this sorrowful world has ever endured, 
was now approaching, for the possession of this 
continent. France and England were the two most 
powerful kingdoms, if perhaps we except Spain, then 
upon the globe. The intelligent reader will be 
interested in a more minute account of the nature 
of those claims, which EngUsh historians, gen- 
erally, have somewhat ignored, but upon which re- 
sults of such momentous importance to humanity- 
were suspended. 

In the year 1497, John Cabot, with a fleet of 
four, some say five ships, sailed from Bristol, Eng- 
land, and discovered the coast of Labrador. But 
little is known respecting this voyage, for the journal 
was lost. He returned to England, greatly elated, 
supposing that he had discovered the empire of 
China. 

The next year his son, Sebastian, who had ac- 
companied his father on the former voyage, sailed 
from Bristol, with two ships, in the month of May, 
and touched the coast of Labrador, far away in the 
north. Finding it excessively cold, even in July, he 
directed his course south, and cruised along, keeping 
the coast constantly in sight, until, passing Nova 
Scotia, he entered the broad gulf of Maine. He 
continued his voyage, it is supposed, until, rounding 



34 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the long curvature of Cape Cod, he found an open 
sea extending far to the west. He passed on until 
he reached the latitude of Cape Hatteras, when, 
finding his provisions failing him, he returned home. 
It was this voyage upon which England founded her 
claim to the whole of that portion of the continent 
whose coast had been thus explored. The breadth 
of the continent was entirely unknown.* 

Upon this claim the grants to the Virginia, as also 
to the Connecticut colony, were across the whole 
breadth of the continent. King Chafies I., in the 
fifth year of his reign, in the year 1630, granted to 
one of his favorites, Sir p^obert Heath, all that part 
of America which Hes ^etween thirty-one and thirty- 
six degrees of north; latitude, from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. This truly imperial gift included 
nearly the whole sea-coast of North and South 
Carolina, extending from sea to sea.f 

The Spanish adventurer, De Soto, whose wonder- 
ful exploits are recorded in one of the volumes of 
this series, discovered the Mississippi, near its mouth, 
in the year 1 541. Some years before this, in 1508, a 
French exploring expedition entered the Gulf of 
St. Lawrence, and framed a map of its shores. In 

* Galvano's " Discoveries of the World," p. 88, London ; Bid- 
die's " Memoir of Sebastian Cabot," p. 221, London. 

f " A Description of the English Province of Carolina," by Daniel 
Coxe, Esq., p. 113. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 35 

1525, France took formal possession of the country. 
Ten years after, in 1535, M. Cartier ascended the 
St. Lawrence, which he so named, as he entered the 
river on that saint's day. This wonderful stream, 
whose bed expands into a series of the most majes- 
tic lakes on this globe, presents a continuous water- 
course of over two thousand miles, and is supposed 
to contain more than one-half of all the fresh water 
on this planet.* 

Several trading expeditions visited the region. 
In 1608 thctrity of Quebec was founded. French 
voyagers, in the birch canoe, extensively explored 
rivers and lakes, for the purchase of furs. They 
established a mission on the banks of Lake Huron, in 
the year 1641, and pushing their explorations to Lake 
Superior, established one there in 1660. Another 
mission was founded in 1 671, at the Falls of St. Mary, 
which acquired much renown. In that same year 
France took formal possession of the vast regions of 
the north-west. 

Two years after this, in 1673, Marquette and his 
companions discovered the Mississippi. In 1680, 
Father Hennepin explored that stream to its sources 
far away in the north. In 1682, La Salle performed 
his wonderful voyage down the whole length of the 
river, to the Gulf. A minute account of the roman- 

* M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. 



36 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

tic adventures he encountered, will be found in the 
History of La Salle, one of the volumes of this series. 
In 1699, Lemoine D'Iberville entered the Mississippi 
with two good ships, explored its mouths, and 
ascended the river about seventy-five miles, carefully 
sounding his way. One morning, greatly to his sur- 
prise, he saw a British corvette, with twelve cannon, 
under full sail, breasting the current. He ordered 
the British immediately to leave the river, stating 
that he had ample force to compel them to do so. 
The British officer felt constrained to obey, though 
not without remonstrance. He said : 

** England discovered this country fifty years ago ; 
and has a better right to it than the French have. 
We will soon come back and teach you that the 
country is ours." 

This was the first meeting of the two rival nations 
in the Mississippi valley. The bend in the river, 
where this occurrence took place, has since been 
called the *' English Bend." * 

Such was the nature of the conflicting claims 
advanced by France and England. France was 
proud ; England haughty. Neither would consent 
to an amicable compromise, or to submit the ques- 
tion to the arbitration of referees. As the year rolled 
on, English emigrants, crowding the Atlantic coasts, 

* " New France," vol. iii. p. 380 ; " Annals of the West," p. 57. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 3/ 

were looking wistfully across the Alleghanies. The 
French, descending from Canada, had established 
several trading posts, which were also fortifications, 
in the beautifuf valley of the Ohio. 

There is much discrepancy in the details of these 
movements, which have descended to us through 
very unreliable sources. The writer has space here 
only to give the facts which are generally admitted. 
It is universally admitted that the French won the 
love of the Indians to an extraordinary degree. 
An aged chief of the Six Nations, said, at Easton, 
in 1758: 

** The Indians left you because of your own fault. 
When we heard that the French were coming we 
asked you for help and arms. But we did not get 
them. The French came. They treated us kindly, 
and gained our love. The Governor of Virginia set- 
tled on our lands for his own benefit, and, when we 
wanted help, forsook us."* 

Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, hearing of these 
encroachments, as he regarded them, decided to 
send a commissioner across the Alleghanies, to 
one of these posts, with a double object in view. 
One, and the avowed object, was to remonstrate, in 
the name of Great Britain, against this trespass, as 

* " Plain Facts," p. 55 ; Pownal's " Memoir on Service in North 
America." 



38 GEORGE WASHINGTON.. 

he pronounced it, upon British territory. The other, 
and the true object, was to ascertain the number, 
strength, and position of the French garrisons, and to 



survey a route by which an army might be sent for 
their capture.* 

It was indeed a perilous enterprise; one from 
which the boldest spirit might recoil. The first gar- 
rison which could be reached was on the Ohio river, 
about one hundred and twenty miles below the point 
where Pittsburg now stands. Here the French were 
erecting a strong fortress, to which the Indians re- 
sorted for trade. There was an intervening wilder- 
ness, from the settlements in Virginia, to be traversed, 
of pathless forests, gloomy morasses, craggy moun- 
tains, and almost impenetrable thickets, of nearly 
six hundred miles. Bands of savages, on the war- 
path or engaged in the hunt, were ever ranging these 
wilds. Many were exasperated by wrongs which 
they themselves had received, or of which they had 
heard, inflicted by the white men. The Indians, in 
all these north-western regions, had welcomed the 
French as brothers ; and truly fraternal relationship 

* " He (Washington) was furthermore to inquire, diligently and 
by cautious means, into the number of the French troops that had 
crossed the lakes, the reinforcements expected from Canada, how 
many forts they had erected, and at what places, how they were gar- 
risoned and appointed, and their distances from each other ; and, in 
short, to procure all the intelligence possible respecting the condition 
and object of the intruders." — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 22. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 39 

existed between them. And they had nearly all 
learned to hate the English, who have never suc- 
ceeded in winning the love of any people. 

In such a journey, one must depend entirely, for 
subsistence, upon the game which could be taken. 
There was danger of being crippled by a strain or a 
broken bone, and of thus perishing, beyond the reach 
of all aid. There was no little danger from the tom- 
ahawk of the savage. It was also probable that the 
French officers would not allow the commissioner, 
whom they would regard as a spy, to return to the 
EngHsh colonies with information so valuable to 
their foes. Principles of justice and mercy have 
never had much control in military affairs. It would 
be very easy for the French so to arrange matters, 
that a band of savages should massacre and plunder 
the party of the commissioner, in the depths of the 
forest, under such circumstances that it would ne- 
cessarily be regarded as merely a savage outrage. 

There was no one to be found willing to expose 
himself to such hardships, and his life to such 
risks. At length George Washington, who was 
then but twenty years and six months old, came for- 
ward and volunteered his services. It was univer- 
sally regarded, by the community, as an act of great 
heroism. Governor Dinwiddle, a blunt and sturdy 
Scotchman, eagerly accepted his proffered services. 



40 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

As he grasped the hand of the youthful Washing- 
ton, he exclaimed : 

** Truly you are a brave lad. And if you play 
your cards well, you shall have no cause to repent 
of your bargain." 

The sobriety and dignity of character of Wash- 
ington were such, that no one thought of accusing 
him of boyish fool-hardiness. And he had such 
experience in the deprivations and perils of the wil- 
derness, that it could not be questioned that he fully 
understood the nature of the enterprise in which he 
had engaged. 

On the 14th of November, 1753, Washington set 
out, from Williamsburg, Virginia, on this perilous 
expedition. His party consisted of eight men, two 
of them being Indian guides. The storms of winter 
were rapidly approaching. Already the crests of the 
mountains were whitened with snow. The autumnal 
rains had swollen the brooks into torrents. Warmly 
clad in furs, the party did not fear the cold. With 
their axes they could speedily rear a camp, which 
would shelter them from the fiercest storm. Wood 
was abundant ; and the most dreary of midnight 
scenes may be enlivened by the blaze of the camp fire. 

In such a shelter, before such a fire, with choice 
cuts of venison, the fattest of nature's poultry, and 
delicious trout fresh drawn from the brook, these 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 4 1 

hardy, adventurers, accustomed to the woodman's 
lodging and the woodman's fare, could enjoy the 
richest of repasts, and all the comforts of the warm 
and bright fireside. 

Many days were passed, full of incidents, roman- 
tic adventures, and hair-breadth escapes, when the 
barriers of the Alleghanies were safely surmounted, 
and the explorers, winding their way through the 
defiles, descended into the fertile and grand valley 
beyond. The Indian guides conducted them by a 
route which led to the upper waters of the Monon- 
gahela river. .This stream, flowing toward the 
north, meets the Alleghany, which takes its rise near 
the great lakes. This union forms the Ohio. 

Upon this solitary stream the Indians constructed 
birch canoes, and the little party paddled down, 
through sublime solitudes, a distance of nearly three 
hundred miles, to the mouth of the river, where 
Pittsburg now stands. The voyage occupied eight 
days. Occasionally they passed a small cluster of 
Indian wigwams. Silently the impassible children 
of the forest gazed upon them as they passed, offer- 
ing no molestation. There was something truly awe- 
inspiring in the silence of the wilderness. No voice 
was heard. No blow of axe or hammer sent its rever- 
berations to the ear. There was no report of the 
musket to break the solemn stillness. The arrow of 



42 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the hunter, in its flight through the air, gave forth no 
sound. 

Having reached the mouth of the Monongahela, 
they heard that the French had an important mili- 
tary fort on French Creek, called also Riviere aux 
Boeufs, about fifteen miles south of Lake Erie.* 
The French were in possession of a strong station at 
Presque Isle, on the southern coast of Lake Erie. 
From this point they had constructed a good wagon 
road to the head of boat navigation on French Creek. 
Here they reared another fort, as is supposed, about 
the year i/SS.f " Through rivers and creeks, snow, 
rain and cold," Washington and his little party, toil- 
ing through the dreary wilderness, reached French 
Creek on the nth of November. Washington had 
for his companion, Mr. Christopher Gist (who was a 
frontiersman of great energy and experience), beside 
his Indian guides, with four other white men and 
two Indians.^ Forty-one days were spent in this 
arduous journey. They found a small French out- 
post at Venango, where the French commandant, 

* " French Creek, New York and Pennsylvania, rises in Chautauqua 
county, New York, passes into Pennsylvania, flowing by Meadville, 
and enters Alleghany river, at Franklin , Venango county. It is about 
100 miles long." — M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. 

\ Washington's Journal of 1753. 

X Gist's Journal of the Expedition may be found in the Massa- 
chusett's Historical Collections, 3d series, vol. v. pages 101-108. 



THE YOUTH OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 43 

Captain Joncaire, received them cordially, and guided 
them to the head-quarters. 

On this journey, Washington very carefully exam- 
ined the Forks of the Ohio, as a suitable place for the 
erection of a fort. He descended the Ohio about 
twenty miles to an Indian village called Logstown. 
Here, in a council with the chief, he endeavored to 
draw the tribe away from the French and into a 
friendly alliance with the English;* and also to 
obtain an escort of warriors to conduct him across 
the country, through the wilderness, to the French 
post, which was distant one hundred and twenty 
miles. In this he was but partially successful. Four 
Indians only accompanied him. This made his party 
amount \o twelve. There were six white men and 
six Indians. Tanachanson, the chief sachem, and 
representative of the Six Nations, accompanied Wash- 
ington's party. 

f " The truth was, these Indians were in a very awkward position, 
They could not resist the Europeans, and knew not which to side 
with ; so that a non-committal policy was much the safest ; and they 
were wise not to return, by Washington, as he desired they should do, 
the wampum they received from the French, as that would be equiv- 
alent to breaking with them." — Annals of the West, p. 83. 



CHAPTER II. 

The First Military Expedition, 

The Visit to Fort Le Boeuf— The Return Journey— Incidents by the 
way — The Night Journey — The Wreck upon the Raft — Night on 
the island — Romantic scene — Reception at Williamsburg — The 
Conflicting Claims — Governor Dinwiddle — His rash and reckless 
order — The First Military Expedition — The site for a fortress — 
The plans of Washington — Fort Duquesne — The March through 
the Wilderness — Appalling tidings — The great mistake, and the 
utter discomfiture — Apologies for Washington. 

A FRENCH officer, by the name of St. Pierre, was 
in command at Fort Le Boeuf. Though fully aware 
of the object of the commissioner's expedition, he 
received Washington with the courtesy characteristic 
of the French nation. Respectfully he received the 
remonstrance which was presented to him, and gave 
Washington a written reply, couched in dignified 
terms, in which he stated that he was placed at that 
post by the command of his government, and that 
he could not abandon it until officially instructed 
so to do.* 

* " M. de St. Piffrre, the commandant, was an elderly person, a 
knight of the military order of St. Louis, and courteous in his man- 
ners. At the first interview, he promised immediate attention to the 
letter from Governor Dinwiddle ; and everything was provided for 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 45 

Washington was as hospitably entertained at the 
fort as if he had been a friend. In that remote 
frontier station, buried in the glooms of the wilder- 
ness, and with no society but that of rude soldiers 
and uncouth savages, a French officer, who was 
almost of necessity a gentleman of rank and refine- 
ment, must have enjoyed most highly a visit from 
an American of cultivated mind and polished man- 
ners. There was no opportunity to conceal any- 
thing of the strength of the French works from the 
EngHsh party, even if it had been deemed desirable 
to do so. Washington drew up an accurate plan of 
the fort, either secretly or by permission, which he 
sent to the British Government."^ The reply which 
St. Pierre returned was obviously the only one 
which, as a servant of the crown, he could make. 
This must have been known as distinctly before 
the reply was given as afterward. And it certainly 
did not require a journey of more than twelve hun- 
dred miles, going and returning, through the wilder- 
ness, to learn that, if the French were to relinquish 

the convenience and comfort of Major Washington and his party 
while they remained at the fort." — Sparks' Life of Washington^ p. 26. 
* " Major Washington took an opportunity to look around and 
examine the fort. His attendants were instructed to do the same. 
He was thus enabled to bring away an accurate description of its 
form, size, construction, cannon, and barracks. His men counted the 
canoes in the river, and such as were partly finished." — Sparks* Life 
of Washington, p. 27. 



46 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

their claims to the valley of the Ohio, they must 
either be driven from it by force, or be persuaded to 
it by diplomatic conference at the court of Versailles. 

The main object of the mission was however ac- 
complished. A feasible route for a military force, 
over the mountains, was discovered, and the strength 
of the French garrisons, in those quarters, was as- 
certained. Washington was surprised in seeing with 
how much unexpected strength the French were in- 
trenching themselves, that they might hold posses- 
sions which they deemed so valuable. 

After a very friendly visit of two days, M. de St. 
Pierre, who had treated his guest with much hospi- 
tality, furnished him with a strong canoe, in which 
he could rapidly descend the St. Francis to the Alle- 
ghany, and that stream to the Ohio. Mr. Spark's 
writes : * 

*' He had been entertained with great politeness. 
Nor did the complaisance of M. de St. Pierre exhaust 
itself in mere forms of civility. The canoe, by his 
order, was plentifully stocked with provisions, liquors, 
and every other supply that could be wanted." 

The voyage down the winding stream to an 
Indian village, where Venango now stands, a distance 
of one hundred and thirty miles, was full of peril and 
suffering. The stream, swollen by wintry rains, was 

* Sparks' " Life of Washington," p. 27. 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 47 

in some places a roaring torrent. Again it broke over 
rocks, or was encumbered by rafts of drifting timber, 
around which the canoe and all its freight had to be 
carried. Several times all had to leap into the icy 
water, to rescue the buoyant and fragile boat from 
impending destruction. At one place they carried 
the canoe over a neck of land a quarter mile in 
extent. 

Soon after leaving Venango they found their 
progress so slow that Major Washington and Mr. 
Gist clothed themselves in Indian walking dresses, 
and with heavy packs on their backs, and each with 
a gun in his hand, set out through the woods on foot. 
They directed their course, by the compass, so as to 
strike the Alleghany river just above its confluence 
with the Monongahela. 

This was indeed a weary and perilous journey to 
take, with the rifle upon the shoulder, the pack upon 
the back, and the hatchet suspended at the waist. 
With the hatchet, each night a shelter was to be 
constructed, should fierce gales or drenching rain 
render a shelter needful. With the rifle, or the fish- 
hook, their daily food was to be obtained. In the 
pack they carried their few cooking utensils and 
their extra clothing. 

Washington's suspicions that there might be 
attempts to waylay him were not unfounded. Some 



48 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Indians followed his trail, either instigated to it by 
the French, or of their own accord for purposes of 
plunder. A solitary Indian met him, apparently by 
accident, in a very rough and intricate part of the 
way, and offered his service as a guide. Through 
the day they journeyed together very confidingly. 
The Indian's sinews seemed to be made of iron, 
which nothing could tire. He led Washington and 
his companion along a very fatiguing route, until 
nightfall. Then, apparently supposing that, in their 
exhaustion, if one were shot the other would be 
helpless and could be followed and shot down at his 
leisure, he took deliberate aim, it is said, at Washing- 
ton and fired, at a distance of not more than fifteen 
paces. The ball barely missed its target. The Indian 
sprang into the woods. Indignation gave speed to 
the feet of his pursuers. He was soon caught. The 
companion of Washington urged that the savage 
should immediately be put to death. But Washing- 
ton recoiled from the idea of shooting a man in cold 
blood. Having disarmed the assassin, he turned him 
adrift in the wilderness.* 

* Such is the story as generally received, and as narrated, essen- 
tially, by Mr. Gist. But it would appear that Washington had some 
doubt whether the Indian were treacherously disposed. According 
to his narrative the savage made no attempt to escape, but commenced 
reloading his gun. He said that his wigwam was so near, that he 
fired the gun to let the family know that he was coming. He had 
previously begged them to go with him to his cabin, and to pass the 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 49 

It was a cold December night. As it was 
thought not impossible that the Indian might have 
some confederates near, they pressed forward, 
through all the hours of darkness until the morning 
dawned, taking special care to pursue such a route 
that even savage sagacity could not search out their 
trail. They pressed on until they reached the 
Alleghany river but a short distance from its mouth. 
The whole region was then a silent wilderness. 
There were no signs of civilized or even of savage 
life to be seen. Though the broader streams were 
not yet frozen over, the banks of the rivers were 
fringed with ice, and immense solid blocks were 
floating down the rapid currents. It was neces- 
sary to cross the stream before them. With 
** one poor hatchet," Washington writes, it took 
them a whole day to construct a suitable raft. 
The logs were bound together by flexible boughs 
and grape vines. It was necessary to be very care- 
ful ; for should the logs, from the force of the waves 
or from coUision with the ice, part in the middle of 
the stream, they would be plunged into the icy river, 
and death would be almost inevitable. 

the night. A careful examination of probabilities will lead many to 
believe that Washington was correct in his supposition. Mr. Sparks 
writes, " Whether it was the intention to kill either of them can only be 
conjectured. If it were^ he showed a degree of stupidity very different 
from the ordinary cunning of the savage. They could only converse 
by signs and might easily have entirely misunderstood each other." 
o 



50 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

They mounted the raft early in the morning, 
having finished it the night before, and with long 
setting poles endeavored to push their way across 
the whirling, swollen torrent. A piercing December 
wind swept the black waters. When about half-way 
across, the raft encountered a pack of floating ice. 
Washington's pole became entangled in the mud at 
the bottom of the river, and the raft was violently 
whirled around. One of the withes, which bound 
the logs together, parted ; the raft was broken into 
fragments, and the occupants were plunged into the 
stream. The water was ten feet deep. Both were, 
for a moment, entirely submerged. Rising to the 
surface they clung to the floating logs. Fortunately, 
just below there was a small island, to which they 
were speedily floated. 

Here, drenched and freezing, they took shelter. 
Their powder, carefully protected, had not been wet. 
Despairingly they had clung to their guns. As soon 
as possible, as the island was well wooded, they con- 
structed a shelter from the gale, and built a roaring 
fire. Its genial warmth reanimated them, so that they 
could even enjoy the wintry blasts which swept 
fiercely by. But before they had reared their shelter 
and built their fire, Mr. Gist's hands and feet were 
frost-bitten. 

It is surprising with what rapidity men experi- 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 5 1 

enced in wood-craft will rear a camp, enclosed on 
three sides and open on one, which, roofed and 
sheathed with overlapping bark, will afford an effectual 
shelter from both wind and rain. Such a cabin, 
carpeted with bear-skins or with the soft and fragrant 
boughs of the hemlock, with a grand fire crackling 
in front, and a duck, a wild turkey, or cuts of tender 
venison roasting deliciously before it, presents a scene 
of comfort which, to the hungry and weary pioneer, is 
often truly luxurious. He would not exchange it for 
the most gorgeously furnished chambers in palatial 
abodes. 

Our adventurers, accustomed to such mishaps, 
regarded their cold bath rather in the light of a joke. 
They piled the fuel, in immense logs, upon the camp 
fire ; for on the torrent-encircled island they had no 
fear of being attacked by the savages. They dried 
their clothing, cooked and ate their savory supper, 
and, wrapped in their blankets, laid down and slept 
as sweetly, probably, as if they had been occupants 
of the guest chamber at Mount Vernon. 

The dawn of the next morning revealed to them 
the fact that the night had been one bitterly cold ; 
for the whole stream was firmly frozen over. They 
crossed the remaining channel on the ice to the east- 
ern shore. Hence they continued their journey 
home, over the wide range of the Alleghanies. With- 



52 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

out any remarkable incident occurring, they safely 
reached Williamsburg, then the capital of Virginia, 
on the i6th of January, 1754, having been absent 
eleven weeks. Washington seemed to be the only 
man who was unconscious that he had performed a 
feat of remarkable skill and daring. 

At the confluence of the Monongahela and You- 
ghiogeny rivers, there was an Indian princess, called 
Queen AHquippa. Washington paid her a compli- 
mentary visit, and quite won her confidence by his 
friendly words and valuable gifts. He also came 
across a small trading post, recently established by 
Mr. Frazier. Here he remained two or three days, 
and succeeded in obtaining some horses for the rest 
of the journey. 

He made his modest report to the governor. It 
was published, and was read with surprise and admir- 
ation, not only all over the State, but it was eagerly 
perused by statesmen in England, who were watch- 
ing with great jealousy the movements of the French 
west of the AUeghanies. The all-important facts 
which the report established were, that the French 
had taken full possession of the valley of La Belle 
Riviere ; that they were entrenching themselves there 
very strongly ; that the native tribes were in cordial 
sympathy with them, and would undoubtedly enter 
into any military alliance with the French which they 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 53 

might desire ; that it was very much easier for the 
French to bring down any amount of reinforcements 
and suppHes from Canada, by the way of the great 
lakes and the natural water-courses, than for the 
Enghsh to transport such supplies across the wide, 
rugged, precipitous, pathless ranges of the Allegha- 
nies ; and finally that it was clear that the French 
would resist, with all their military force, any at- 
tempts of the English to establish their settlements 
in the valley of the Ohio."^ 

The intelligent reader will inquire who, ac- 
cording to the law of nations, was legitimately 
entitled to this region. The candid reader, laying 
aside all national predilections, will say : 

" It is very difficult to decide this question. 
The English ships had sailed along the coast. How 
far back, into the interior, did this entitle them to 
the country? The French had discovered these 
magnificent rivers, and had explored them in their 
canoes. Did this so entitle them to these valleys, as 
to limit the western boundaries of the English by 

* " As soon as Washington returned with the letter of St. Pierre, 
Governor Dinwiddie wrote to the Board of Trade, stating that the 
French were building another fort at Venango, and that, in March, 
twelve or fifteen hundred men would be ready to descend the Alle- 
ghany river with their Indian allies, for which purpose three hundred 
canoes had been collected ; and that Logstown was then to be made 
head-quarters, while forts were built in various other positions, and 
the whole country occupied." — Annals of the West, p. 84. 



54 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the Alleghany mountains, upon whose western de- 
clivities these valleys commenced ? '* 

Such was the question. Alas ! for humanity, 
that it could only be settled by war, carnage, and 
misery. 

The Legislature of Virginia happened to be in 
session at Williamsburg when Washington returned. 
Soon after presenting his report he went, one day, 
into the gallery, mingling with the crowd, to witness 
the proceedings of the House. The speaker 
chanced to catch sight of him. He immediately 
rose from his chair and, addressing the assembly, 
said : 

'' I propose that the thanks of this House be 
given to Major George Washington, who now sits in 
the gallery, for the gallant manner in which he has 
executed the important trust lately reposed in him, 
by his excellency the Governor." 

These words called forth a spontaneous burst of 
enthusiasm. Every member sprang to his feet. 
Every eye was directed to the modest, confused, 
blushing young man. A shout of applause arose, 
which almost shook the rafters of the hall. There 
was no resisting the flood of homage. Two gentle- 
men conducted Washington to the speaker's desk. 
There was instant and universal silence. 

Washington was entirely taken by surprise. To 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. $$ 

such scenes he was altogether unaccustomed. Be it 
remembered that he was then but twenty-one years 
of age ; just entering the period of manhood. Thus 
suddenly was he brought before that august tri- 
bunal ; and all were silently awaiting words for which 
he was utterly unprepared. In his great confusion 
he was speechless. There was a moment of silence, 
and then the speaker, preceiving the cruel position 
in which he was placed, happily relieved him from 
embarrassment, by presenting a chair and saying : 

** Sit down. Major Washington ; sit down. Your 
modesty is alone equal to your merit." 

Governor Dinwiddle, a reckless, headlong Scotch- 
man, was governed mainly by impulse, and was ac- 
customed to speak and act first, and reflect after- 
ward. He despised the French, and could say with 
Lord Nelson, " I drew in hatred for the French with 
my mother's milk." He paid no respect whatever 
to the considerations upon which the French 
founded their claim to the valley of the Ohio ; but 
affirmed it to be the height of impudence for French- 
men to pretend to any title to territory, which Eng- 
lishmen claimed as theirs. Such insolence, he de- 
clared, was not to be tolerated for a moment ; and 
he determined that he would immediately drive the 
intruders, neck and heels, out of the valley.* 

* " The Assembly was convened ; and many of the most judicious 



56 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Arrogance is pretty sure to bring its own punish- 
ment. But we are often bewildered by the thought 
that, in the incomprehensible government of God 
over this world, the punishment often falls upon the 
innocent, while those who merit it go free. 

Energetically the irate governor marshalled an 
army of four hundred men. The idea that the cow- 
ardly French could present any effectual resistance 
to his lion-hearted Englishmen, seems never to have 
entered his mind. The orders issued to this army, 
so formidable in those days, were very emphatic and 
peremptory. 

" March rapidly across the mountains. Disperse, 
capture, or kill all persons — not subjects of the king 
of Great Britain — who are attempting to take posses- 
sion of the territory of his majesty, on the banks of 
the Ohio river, or any of its tributaries." 

George Washington was appointed colonel of this 
regiment. A wiser selection could not have been 
made. His administrative abihties were of the 
highest order ; his exalted reputation invested him 
with authority ; he was acquainted with the route, 

members expressed doubts whether the king of England had an unques- 
tionable claim to the valley, which France had discovered and occu- 
pied. * You may well conceive,' the governor wrote, ' how I fired at 
this ; that an English legislature should presume to doubt the right 
of his majesty to the interior parts of this continent, the back of his 
dominions.' " — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 35. 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 57 

as no other man in the colony could be ; his bravery 
was above all suspicion, and his experience as a sur- 
veyor would enable him to select the best strategic 
points to command the vast territory. 

At the confluence of the Monongahela and the 
Alleghany, he had spent a day in constructing a raft. 
There he had been wrecked. The delay which 
these incidents had caused, enabled him very care- 
fully, with his practised eye, to study the features of 
the country. 

This spot, he decided, with instinctive military 
skill, to be the most appropriate place for England 
to rear a fortress and establish a garrison, which 
would constitute the most effectual point d'apptd 
(point of support), from which expeditions could 
emerge for the destruction of the French trading- 
posts. This whole region was then an unbroken, 
howling wilderness. Buried in the glooms of the 
forest, far away from all observation, Washington 
hoped to rear a strong fortress before the French 
should have any suspicion of what was going on. 
Having completed these works, and rendered them 
impregnable to any force which France could bring 
against them, he would then build strong flat-bot- 
tomed boats, armed with cannon, and manned 
with troops, in which they could drift down the 
Ohio, and attack by surprise, and destroy, all the 
3* 



58 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

French military and trading posts found upon the 
banks. 

Contemplating this plan in the light of humanity, 
it was a very sad one. " War is cruelty. You can- 
not refine it." At these posts there were many hum- 
ble emigrants, fathers and mothers, little boys and 
girls. They were innocent of all crime. Struggling 
against the enormous taxation, of king and nobles, 
in France, they had left the thatched cottages of 
their lowly ancestors, hoping to find homes of more 
comfort in the wilderness of the New World. It is 
dreadful to think of the consternation, which must 
have spread through such a little settlement of pio- 
neers, when suddenly, on some bright, sunny morn- 
ing, the terrible gun-boats, crowded with armed 
soldiers, rounded a bend in the river, and opened 
their fire. " Bayonets," says a French proverb, *' must 
not think." Soldiers must obey orders, regardless 
of the tears and pleadings of humanity. The orders 
were peremptory. 

" Apply the torch and lay every building in 
ashes. The dying matron, helpless in her bed, and 
the new-born babe, must look out for themselves. 
Disperse, capture, or kill all the inhabitants. Leave 
nothing behind but smouldering ruins and mangled 
corpses." 

Such was the plan, in its awfulness, when con- 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 59 

templated by the eye of ordinary humanity. In a 
military point of view the plan, thus devised, was 
worthy of all admiration. As a means for the at- 
tainment of the desired end, it could not have been 
better. The expedition, however, was not popular, 
and it was found necessary to resort to impress- 
ment to fill the ranks. By the Provincial law, the 
militia could not be ordered to march more than five 
miles beyond the bounds of the colony. And it was 
at least doubtful whether the French were in Virginia, 
though Governor Dinwiddie declared the Pacific 
Ocean to be the western boundary of the State. 
Unfortunately for the success of the expedition, the 
French engineers were by no means behind the 
English in military skill. In descending to the 
Ohio, from the lakes, they had been accustomed to 
take canoes, on the upper waters of the Alleghany ; 
and often, in fleets propelled by the paddles of 
friendly Indians, they had encamped, for the night, 
upon the forest-crowned eminences at the conflu- 
ence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers. 
They also had decided that this was, above all others, 
the spot upon which France should rear her central 
fortress, and where she should store her abounding 
supplies. 

The menace which Governor Dinwiddie had sent 
by Washington, was not unheeded by the French 



6o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

authorities. Immediately they commenced rearing 
a fortress, which they had, for some time, been 
contemplating. A thousand men from Canada de- 
scended the Alleghany river in sixty French ba- 
teaux and three hundred Indian canoes, taking with 
them a strong armament and a large supply of mili- 
tary stores. They commenced their fortress where 
Pittsburg now stands, calling it Fort Duquesne.* 
The forest resounded with the blows of the axe men. 
A thousand French soldiers, many of them skilled 
as masons and carpenters, plied all their energies in 
rearing the walls. Several hundred Indians eagerly 
aided, heaving along massive blocks of stone, and 
dragging heavy timbers. 

Rapidly the works arose, fashioned by the most 
accomplished military engineers. Eighteen pieces 
of cannon were soon in position. And by the time 
the little army of Governor Dinwiddle had blindly 
commenced its march, the frowning walls of Fort 

* It is said that there was a small party, of about forty men, in 
the employ of the Ohio Company, who had commenced throwing up 
entrenchments at the Fork. "On the 17th of April, Ensign Ward, 
then in command, saw, upon the Alleghany, a sight that made his 
heart sink ; sixty bateaux and three hundred canoes, filled with men 
and deeply laden with cannon and stores. The fort was called on to 
surrender. Ward tried to evade the act ; but it would not do. Contre- 
coeur, with a thousand men about him, said * Evacuate,' and the 
ensign dared not refuse. That evening he supped with his captor, and 
the next day was bowed off by the Frenchman, and, with his men and 
tools, marched up the Monongahela." — Annals of the JVesf, p. 87. 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 6 1 

Duquesne could have bid defiance to ten times the 
force the infatuated governor had sent to drive the 
French, " neck and heels," out of the valley. 

Scarcely any mistake, in a military officer, can be 
greater than that of despising his enemy. The 
French authorities, in Canada, had carefully read 
Washington's report. They had made themselves 
intimately acquainted with all the discussions in the 
legislature. They had watched every movement. 
They had read Governor Dinwiddie's order to 
*' disperse, capture, or kill " them all. They were 
as well acquainted with the number of troops sent to 
attack them, and with the strength of their arma- 
ment, as was the youthful Colonel Washington 
himself. They knew the day and the hour when 
the march was commenced ; and, by the aid of 
Indian runners, kept themselves pretty accurately 
informed of the progress which the army made in its 
advance. 

The march, through the barren and rugged 
ranges of the Alleghanies, for a distance of nearly 
one hundred miles, was exhausting in the extreme. 
There was often suffering for food. Though in the 
rich and well-watered plains beyond, game was 
abundant, it was very scarce amid the bleak crags 
of the mountains. Experienced hunters accompa- 
nied the little band, whose duty it was to range the 



62 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

country for one or two miles on each side of the 
line of march, and bring in such game as could 
be shot down. 

Slowly and painfully the soldiers toiled along, 
until they had accomplished the passage of the 
mountains, and, emerging from the rugged defiles, 
had entered hunting grounds which were abundantly 
stocked with every variety of game. The troops had 
reached the valley of the Monongahela, and, buoyant 
with hope, were pressing forward, sanguine in the 
expectation of the entire success of their enterprise, 
when their march was arrested by the appalling tid- 
ings which we have recorded. 

They were within three or four days' march of 
the fortress when a courier communicated the 
alarming intelligence which we have related. To 
add to their consternation, he stated, that a com- 
bined and outnumbering force of French and In- 
dians were on the rapid march to attack them in 
front, while a numerous array of Indian warriors had 
already reached their rear to cut off their retreat. 
More awful tidings for a young and ambitious sol- 
dier, can scarcely be conceived. Retreat was impos- 
sible. Even without encountering any foe, his ex- 
hausted troops, destitute of food, and with the game 
driven from their path, would inevitably perish by 
the way. But to add to his consternation he was 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 63 

told that the veteran soldiers of France, fresh from 
their barracks, in greatly outnumbering force, were 
coming down, at the double quick, upon his front; 
while Indian warriors, the strength of whose bands 
he could not compute, were lining the path of his 
retreat with their ambushes.* 

To surrender his whole force, without striking a 
blow, was worse than death. In utter desperation 
to undertake a battle, would be an act of madness. 
It could, by no possibility, result otherwise than in 
the destruction of his little army. Though pride 
might dictate the act, the conscience of Washington 
recoiled from thus dooming his men to inevitable 
and useless death. France and England were then 
at peace. Though, as ever, each was regarding the 
other with a watchful and a jealous eye, still ostensi- 
bly friendly relations existed between the two gov- 
ernments. 

France had discovered the valley of the Ohio, 
had explored it, and for more than half a century 
had been engaged in a lucrative traffic with the In- 

* It would seem that Washington had daily public prayers in the 
camp, reading the service himself. Mr. Irving writes, " It certainly 
was not one of the least striking pictures presented in this wild cam- 
paign — the youthful commander presiding with calm seriousness over 
a motley assemblage of half-equipped soldiery, leathern-clad hunters 
and woodsmen, and painted savages with their wives and children, 
and assisting them all in solemn devotion by his own example and 
demeanor." — Life of Washington, in two volumes, vol. i. p. 42. 



64 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

dians, establishing trading posts, which were strongly- 
fortified. Missionary operations, for converting and 
teaching the Indians, were connected with nearly all 
these stations. The claim of the French to the ter- 
ritory was founded, as France thought, upon the 
universally recognized laws of nations. 

The measure of the hot-headed Governor Din- 
widdle was totally unwarranted. Without any de- 
claration of war, he had fitted out a military expe- 
dition, to take possession of the country, and to dis- 
perse, kill, or capture all the Frenchmen found in it. 
This was dishonorable warfare. It was the act of an 
individual, who was unfortunately invested with 
power. Such acts are almost invariably followed by 
calamity. But in this case, as in so many others, 
the calamity mainly fell, inexplicably, not so much 
upon him who had issued the orders, as upon the 
agents, who, unfamiliar with diplomatic right and 
wrong, were employed and almost forced to execute 
them. 

As usual, rumor had exaggerated the facts. The 
French officers on the Ohio, who were rearing their 
homes in one of the most fertile and genial of earthly 
climes, who were living on terms of even affectionate 
relationship with the Indians, were very anxious to 
avoid any collision with the English colonists, which 
would involve the two kingdoms in war. They were 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 65 

in possession of the country ; they were carrying on 
a very profitable trade with the natives, and were 
continually lengthening their lines and strengthening 
their posts. 

Peace was evidently the policy for them to pur- 
sue. By war they had nothing to gain, but much to 
risk. Though minutely informed of the movements 
of Washington, and fully conscious that he might be 
crushed by a single blow, that blow would be but the 
beginning, not the end. It would surely inaugurate 
a terrible war, which would call into requisition all 
the fleets and armies of Great Britain. It would prove 
the signal for a conflict which would encircle the globe. 

The French commandant at Fort Duquesne, 
who had nothing whatever to fear from the exhausted 
and half-famished little band which was approaching 
him, decided to send a friendly party to meet Colonel 
Washington, and to advise his return, assuring him 
that he could not be permitted, without the consent 
of the French government, to rear a fortress upon 
territory which France had long considered as exclu- 
sively her own. A civilian, M. Jumonville, was sent 
on this peaceful mission. He took with him, as an 
escort through the wilderness, but thirty-four men. 
This renders it certain that he had no hostile designs, 
for he sent not one to ten of the soldiers composing 
the regiment of Washington. 



66 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

But Washington, young, inexperienced, and in a 
position of great responsibility, was agitated by inde- 
scribable embarrassment. It was a dark and stormy 
night. Jumonville, with his feeble escort, dreaming 
of no danger, for France and England were at peace, 
and he was on a friendly mission, had reared their 
frail shelter camps, and were quietly sleeping around 
the fires. Some Indians who had been sent forward 
as scouts, hurried back to Washington with the infor- 
mation that the advance-guard of the French army 
was encamped at the distance of but a few miles 
before him. The sagacious Indian scouts very ac- 
curately described their number and their position. 

They were in a sheltered glen, on the banks of the 
Monongahela, which was quite shut in by rocks. An 
invisible foe could easily creep up in the darkness and 
the storm, and, aided by the camp fires, could take 
deliberate aim, and, by one volley, kill or disable 
almost every one of the unsuspecting and sleeping 
foe. Washington, who had no doubt that this party 
was advancing to attack him by surprise, unfortu- 
nately, unjustly, but not with dishonorable intent, 
adopted a resolve which introduced a war and ush- 
ered in woes over which angels might weep. It is 
altogether probable that, without this untoward 
event, France and England would have drifted into 
a war for the possession of this continent. But the 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 6/ 

candid mind must admit that the responsibility of 
opening these dreadful vials of woe, rests with the 
English and not the French.* Washington, who had 
commenced intrenching himself at a place called Great 
Meadows, and which he described as a " charming 
field for an encounter," took a strong deatchment of 
his troops, and, leading them in person was, in an 
hour, on the march. The darkness was as that of 
Egypt. The rain fell in torrents, and the tree tops 
of the gigantic forest swayed to and fro in the howl- 
ing gale. Savage warriors, whose eyesight seemed 
as keen by night as by day, led the party. Quite a 
band of friendly Indians joined in the enterprise, so 
congenial to their modes of warfare. 

A march of two or three hours brought them to 
the glimmering fires of the French. Many of the 
sleepers were protected by the camps, which they 
had hurriedly reared. The assailants, with the noise- 
less, stealthy step of the panther, crept behind the 
rocks and into the thickets, and took careful aim at 
their slumbering victims. The Indians united with 
the English in two parties, so as entirely to surround 
the French, and prevent the possibility of escape. 

Just as the day was beginning to dawn through 

* It is said, on the other hand, that the French commenced the 
war by driving off the party under Ensign Ward, who was throwing 
up intrenchments on the site of Fort Duquesne. 

4 



6S GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the lurid skies, the signal for attack was given. A 
deadly volley was discharged, and the forest re- 
sounded with the yells of the Indians, so loud and 
hideous, that it would seem that the cry must have 
burst from thousands of savage throats. That one 
simultaneous discharge killed M. Jumonville and 
ten of his men. Others were wounded. The sur- 
vivors sprang to their arms. But, in the gloom of 
the morning, no foe was visible. The assailants, 
entirely concealed, could take fatal aim at their 
victims who were revealed to them by the light of 
their fires. The French fought bravely. They 
were, however, overpowered ; and after many had 
fallen, the survivors, twenty-one in number, several 
with bleeding veins and shattered bones, were taken 
captive. The prisoners were sent under guard to 
Virginia.* 

This deplorable event, one of the greatest mis- 
takes which was ever made, created, as the tidings 
spread, intense excitement throughout America, 
France, and England. France regarded it as one of 
the grossest of outrages, which the national honor 

* The British admitted that so small a party, conducting a peace 
commissioner with a summons, could not have intended a hostile 
attack ; but they affirmed that the French were spies. It is undoubtedly 
true that they were to gain what information they could ; as was the 
case with Washington and his party when they visited the forts on 
French Creek. This was the main object of Washington's excursion. 
The summons was a mere pretext. 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 69 

demanded should be signally avenged. Though 
nothing is more certain than that Washington would 
recoil from any dishonorable deed, still it is impos- 
sible to palliate the impolicy of this act. His little 
army, as he well knew, was entirely in the power 
of the French. This act of slaughter could by no 
possibility extricate them, and would certainly so 
exasperate his foes as to provoke them to the most 
severe measures of retaliation.* 

The moment the tidings reached the .French 
commandant at Fort Duquesne, he despatched an 
allied force of fifteen hundred French and Indians, to 
avenge the wrong. Washington, as we have said, 
could not retreat. Neither could he fight with the 
slightest prospect of success. Capitulation was 
inevitable. But his proud spirit could not stoop to 
a surrender of his force until he had protected his 
reputation by a desperate resistance. And such is 
the deplorable code of honor, in war, that it is 
deemed chivalric for an officer to consign any num- 
bers of sons, husbands, fathers, to a bloody death, 

* No transaction in the life of Washington has elicited more 
passionate attack and defence than this. The French court pub- 
lished a very full account of the occurrence in a duodecimo which was 
sent to all the governments of Europe. It was entitled, " Memoire 
contenant le Precis des Faits, avec leurs Pieces justificatives, pour 
servir de Re'ponse aux Observations envoyees, par les Ministres 
d'Angleterre, dans les cours de I'Europe." A Paris, de ITmprimerie 
Royale, 1756. 



70 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

simply that he may enjoy the renown of having 
fought to the bitter end. 

All the energies of Washington's little band were 
brought into requisition in throwing up breastworks. 
Appropriately he called the ramparts Fort Neces- 
sity.* At eleven o'clock in the morning of the 3d 
of July, the French and Indians, who are variously 
estimated at from nine to fifteen hundred, com- 
menced the attack. Nature seemed in sympathy 
with the woes of man. It was a tempestuous day. 
The shrieks of the storm resounded through the 
forest, and the rain fell in torrents. And yet, far 
away in the solitudes beyond the Alleghanies, 
Frenchmen and Englishmen were all the day long 
kiUing each other, to decide the question, who 
should be permitted, of the human family, to 
rear their homes in these boundless wilds. The 
history of our fallen world teaches us, that the folly 
of man is equal to his depravity. God riiade this 
for a happy world. Man, in rebellion against his 
Maker, has filled it with weeping eyes and bleeding 
hearts. 

The fratricidal strife continued until eight 
o'clock in the evening. Captain Vanbraam, the only 

* " The site of this fort is three or four hundred yards south of 
what is now called National Road, four miles from the foot of Laurel 
Hill, and fifty miles from Cumberland at Wills' Creek."— Sparks' Zz/<r 
of Washington^ P* S'l* 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. J I 

one in the fort who understood French, was then 
sent, with a flag of truce, into the camp of the as- 
sailants to ask for terms upon which the EngHsh 
might capitulate. He soon returned, bringing articles 
" which by a flickering candle in the dripping 
quarters of his commander, he translated to Washing- 
ton ; and, as it proved, from intention or ignorance 
mistranslated." In these terms, which Washington 
accepted, and which it is said his courier did not 
correctly translate, the death of Jumonville is spoken 
of as an '' assassination." * 

Washington, as we have mentioned, was a young 
man of ingenuous character and winning manners. 
He was in all respects a gentleman of dignified 
deportment, of firm moral principles, and of the 
highest sense of honor. Fortunately he fell into the 
hands of M. De Villiers, a French officer, who was 
also a gentleman, capable of admiring the character 
of his captive, and of sympathizing with him in the 
terrible embarrassments into which he had been 
plunged. 

He treated Washington with magnanimity 
worthy of all praise. The terms of surrender were 
generous. The troops were to leave the fort with 

* M. De Villiers, in his despatches to the French Government, 
wrote, " We made the English consent to sign, that they had assas- 
sinated my brother in his camp." 



72 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the honors of war, and were to return to their 
homes unmolested. They were to retain their 
small-arms, ammunition, and personal effects, surren- 
dering their artillery, which indeed they had no 
means of moving, as their horses were all shot. They 
gave their word of honor not to attempt any build- 
ings in the valley of the Ohio, for the space of one 
year. And they promised that all the French taken 
in the attack upon Jumonville, and who had been 
sent to Virginia, should be immediately restored. 

Washington had sent a letter to Governor Din- 
widdle, commending the prisoners to " the respect 
and favor due to their character and personal 
merit." But the British Governor threw them into 
close confinement, and treated them with great 
cruelty. He also, infamously regardless of the 
terms of capitulation, refused to surrender them. 
One of the officers, La Force, attempted to escape. 
He was recaptured, secured with double irons, and 
chained to the floor of his dungeon. Washington 
felt deeply mortified by this obtuseness of the gover- 
nor on a point of military punctilio and honorable 
faith ; but his remonstrances were unavailing.* 

The next morning, Washington and his dejected 
troops commenced their forlorn march back through 
the wilderness. Encumbered with the wounded, 

* Irving's " Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 51. 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 73 

who were carried on litters, but three miles were 
made that day. The next day they resumed their 
melancholy march, and, by slow stages, returned to 
their homes.* 

On the whole, the character of Washington did 
not suffer permanently from this occurrence. His 
extreme youth, and the untried nature of the per- 
plexities in which he was involved, and the fact that 
he supposed that Jumonville was approaching to 
attack him by surprise, disarmed the virulence of 
censure with all candid men. Indeed, his country- 
men, somewhat oblivious of the extraordinary mag- 
nanimity of M. De Villiers, were disposed to applaud 
him for the military genius he had displayed in 
rescuing his little army from such imminent peril, 
and in conducting the troops back so safely to 
Virginia. The numbers engaged in the action at 
Fort Necessity, and the number killed and wounded, 
on the two sides, can never be known. Of the Vir- 
ginia regiment alone, twelve were killed and forty- 
three wounded. 

The rank and file of every army almost necessa- 

* " A gentleman, who had heard that Colonel Washington had 
said that he knew of no music so pleasing as the whistling of bul- 
lets, being alone in conversation with him, at Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, asked him whether it was as he had related. The general 
answered, ' If I said so, it was when I 
History, vol. ii. p. 203. 

4 



74 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

rily includes many of the most wild and depraved of 
men. The adventurers who crowd to the frontiers 
of any country, and especially those whose tastes 
have led them to abandon the more cultivated re- 
gions of civilization, and to plunge into the solitudes 
of the wilderness, have generally been those who 
have wished to escape from the .dominion of laws 
and from the restraints of religion. In the little band 
enlisted under the banner of Washington there were 
many unprincipled and profane men. His ear was 
constantly pained by that vulgar cursing and swear- 
ing, which was exceedingly repugnant to his refined 
tastes, and to his Christian principles. He could 
not forget that, amid the thunderihgs and lightnings 
of Sinai, the law had been proclaimed : 

*' Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy 
God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless 
that taketh his name in vain." 

And he recognized the divine authority of the 
words of our Saviour, when, in confirmation of this 
command, he said, " Swear not at all." Under the 
influence of these teachings, which he had received 
from the lips of his pious mother, and which had thus 
far governed his life, this young officer issued the 
following admirable, yet extraordinary order of the 
day. 

" Colonel Washington has observed that the men 



1 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. 75 

of his regiment are very profane and reprobate. He 
takes this opportunity to inform them of his great 
displeasure at such practices ; and assures them that, 
if they do not leave them off, they shall be severely 
punished. The officers are desired, if they hear any 
man swear or make use of an oath or execration, to 
order the offender twenty-five lashes immediately, 
without a court-martial. For a second offence he 
shall be more severely punished." 

Such was the character of the youthful Washing- 
ton. Even those who do not emulate his example,, 
can appreciate the excellence of his principles. 
Twenty years after this, when the war of the Revo- 
lution was deluging our land in blood, and when the 
infant colonies, which numbered a population of less 
than three million white inhabitants, were struggHng, 
in deadly battle, against the armies of the most pow- 
erful empire on the globe. Washington, still recog- 
nizing the authority of God, and avowing his faith 
in the religion of Jesus Christ, was greatly distressed 
in the view of the contemptuous way in which the 
name of God was used by the officers, as well as by 
the common soldiers. 

The feeble army he led was defeated, over- 
whelmed with disaster, and threatened with irretriev- 
able ruin. Agonizing were the prayers which he had 
been heard offering to God, pleading with him to 



'J^i GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

interpose to rescue our country from the gigantic 
power which was trampHng out its life. In those 
dark hours, when nearly all patriotic hearts were 
engulfed in despair, General Washington, Com- 
mander in Chief of the Armies of America, in 
August, 1776, issued, at New York, the following 
order to the troops : 

" The General is sorry to be informed that the 
foolish and profane practice of cursing and swearing, 
a vice hitherto little known in an American army, is 
growing into fashion. He hopes that the officers 
will, by example as well as by influeace, endeavor to 
check it ; and that both they and the men will reflect 
that we can have little hope of the blessing of heaven 
on our arms, if we insult it by our impiety and folly. 
Add to this, it is a vice so mean and low, without 
any temptation, that every man of sense and charac- 
ter detests and despises it." 

Profanity must be exceedingly displeasing to 
God, or it would not have been so solemnly prohib- 
ited in those commandments which God issued for 
the regulation of the conduct of men in all ages. 
And yet it is our national vice. How many are there 
** who have no God to pray to ; only a god to swear 
by." While speaking upon this very important sub- 
ject it may be proper to refer to an anecdote of 
Washington, which was related to the writer by an 



THE FIRST MILITARY EXPEDITION. "JJ 

ofificer in the United States Army, who was present 
on the occasion. 

Washington had invited the members of his staff 
to dine with him in the city of New York. As they 
were sitting at the table, all engaged in that quiet 
conversation which the presence of Washington 
invariably secured, one of the guests very distinctly 
uttered an oath. Washington dropped his knife and 
fork as though he had been struck by a bullet. The 
movement arrested the attention of every one. For 
an instant there was perfect silence. Washington 
then, in calm, deliberate tones, whose solemnity was 
blended with sadness, said : " I thought that I had 
invited gentlemen only to dine with me." It is need- 
less to add that no more oaths were heard at that 
table. 



CHAPTER III. 

The French War, 

Braddock's Army — Washington Resigns, accepts the office of Aide to 
Braddock — Interview with Franklin — Crossing the Mountains — 
The Ambush — The warnings of Washington — The Attack — 
Events of the Battle — Peril and Bravery of Washington — The 
Rout — Narrative of Colonel Smith — Indian Strategy — Scenes 
at Fort Duquesne — The Indian War-cries — The Gold Seal — 
What Washington had gained — Spirit of the Savages — Wash- 
ington's statement — Scenes of woe. 

War between France and England had now 
became inevitable. The British cabinet, being re- 
solved to drive the French from the continent of 
North America, had not only no apology to offer for 
her untoward military movement, but immediately 
made new and more formidable preparations for the 
accomplishment of her determined purpose. The 
task seemed not difficult ; for the rapidly growing 
English colonies, scattered along the Atlantic coast, 
contained a population greatly outnumbering those 
gathered around the settlements on the banks of the 
St. Lawrence, and the few military and trading 
posts which were established on the borders of the 
great lakes, and in the valley of the Ohio.* 

* " As late as 1754 all the French colonies, from the St. Lawrence to 



THE FRENCH WAR. 79 

On the other hand, the pride of the court of 
France required that it should not submit to in- 
dignity ; neither could France yield to the arrogant 
demands of the English, and surrender, at their dicta- 
tion, territory which she had long considered as 
beyond all legitimate question her own. Thus the 
warfare became essentially one of attack on the part 
of England, one of defence on the part of France. 
England was to organize armies and send them 
across the mountains, to drive the French from the 
valley of the Ohio. France was to strengthen her 
fortresses in the valley so as to repel and drive back 
the invaders. Both nations did everything in their 
power to enlist the Indians warriors beneath their 
banners. 

In the spring of the year 1755, the British 
government sent two regiments of regular troops 
from England, to cross the wilderness of the Alle- 
ghanies, and wrest Fort Duquesne from the French. 
The highly disciplined troops were well instructed 
in the tactics of European battle-fields, but were en- 
tirely unacquainted with Indian strategy, and were 
quite unprepared to cope with the difficulties of 

the Gulf of Mexico, did not contain more than a hundred thousand 
white inhabitants, while the inhabitants of the English colonies were 
then estimated at twelve hundred thousand white and two hundred 
and fifty thousand blacks." — History of the United States of America, 
by Harvey Prindle Peet, LL.D., p. 156. 



8o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Indian warfare. General Braddock, a proud, self- 
conceited Englishman, who despised all other nation- 
alities, and who had a thorough contempt for the 
miHtary ability of the Americans, was placed in 
command. 

" Pride goeth before destruction and a haughty 
look before a fall." He was too proud to learn from 
those who were abundantly able to teach him. He 
was too haughty to listen to any warnings of danger 
from those who were far wiser than himself, but 
whom he regarded as ignorant and cowardly. He, 
in command of well drilled British regulars, had 
nothing to fear and nothing to learn from colonists, 
Frenchmen, or Indians. 

General Braddock, at the head of his two highly 
discipHned and well uniformed regiments, com- 
menced his march across the wide, rugged mountain 
ranges. From the eastern declivites, where the water 
commenced running into the Atlantic, to the western 
slopes where the gushing springs flowed into the 
Ohio, was a distance of more than one hundred miles. 
The path was narrow. In many places torrents were 
to be bridged, obstructions removed, and the trail 
widened through the vast masses of rock, by the 
corps of engineers. Thus there would be presented 
to the keen eyes of the Indians, who were sent by 
the French, to watch and report the progress of the 



THE FRENCH WAR. 8 1 

foe, a straggling, broken line of men and wagons 
four miles in length. 

There was something exceedingly exasperating 
in the contemptuous manner in which the British 
court and cabinet treated the colonial officers. It 
seemed to be, with them, an established principle 
that an Englishman must, of necessity, be superior 
to an American. Governor Dinwiddie reduced 
Colonel Washington to the rank of a captain, and 
placed over him officers whom he had commanded. 
This degradation was, of course, not to be submitted 
to by a high-minded man. Washington at once re- 
signed his commission, and retired from the army. 

Governor Sharpe, the crown-appointed Governor 
of Maryland, received, from the king, the appoint- 
ment of Commander-in-Chief of the forces employed 
against the French. He was well acquainted with 
Washington's exalted character, and valuable expe- 
rience, and yet he had the presumption to write, urg- 
ing him to accept the office of captain of a Virginia 
company, intimating to him that he might nominally 
hold his former commission as colonel. Washington 
repHed : 

" This idea has filled me with surprise ; for if you 
think me capable of holding a commission that has 
neither rank nor emolument annexed to it, you must 
entertain a very contemptible opinion of my weak- 



82 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ness, and believe me to be more empty than the 
commission itself." 

When General Braddock landed at Alexandria, in 
Virginia, with his two regiments, hearing of the fame 
of Washington, and of his previous excursions across 
the mountains, he invited him to take part in the cam- 
paign, as one of his staff, retaining his former rank. 
Th-e chivalric spirit of Washington was roused ; for 
the pageantry of war was quite conspicuous from 
his quiet retreat at Mount Vernon. 

British ships of war, with their gay banners, and 
transports crowded with troops, were continually 
sailing by his door, to Alexandria, which was but a 
few miles above. The booming of cannon, and the 
music of well-trained bands, woke the echoes of those 
vast forests. Washington mounted his horse, and 
rode to Alexandria. The love of adventure, of 
heroic military achievements, inspired him. He 
eagerly accepted the offer of Braddock, to become a 
member of the general's military household, but 
without any emolument or any distinct command. 
The position recognized his full rank, and gave him 
the opportunity of acquiring new experience, and of 
becoming acquainted with the highest principles of 
martial tactics as then practised by the armies of 
Europe. 

His widowed mother entreated him not again to 



THE FRENCH WAR. 83 

expose himself to the perils of a campaign. But he 
found the temptation too strong to be resisted. On 
the 20th of April, 1755, the army commenced its 
march, from Alexandria. Washington was announced 
as one of the general's aides. Benjamin Franklin, 
then forty-nine years of age, visited the army when 
it had reached Fredericktown. Braddockwas so con- 
fident of the success of the expedition, that he said 
to Franklin : 

"After taking Duquesne, I shall proceed to Ni- 
agara ; and having taken that, to Frontenac, if the 
season will allow time. And I suppose it will, for 
Duquesne can hardly detain me above three or four 
days. Then I can see nothing which can obstruct 
my march to Niagara." * 

Franklin, with his customary good sense and 
modesty, replied, " To be sure, sir, if you arrive well 
before Duquesne, with these fine troops, so well pro- 
vided with artillery, the fort, though completely 
fortified, and assisted with a very strong garrison, 
can probably make but a very short resistance. The 
only danger I apprehend, of obstruction to your 
march, is from the ambuscades of the Indians, who, 

* " It is evident that the sense of the people was but little wak- 
ened to the necessity or importance of those enterprises against the 
French ; and that they looked upon them rather as the results of po- 
litical objects in Great Britain, than as immediately concerning them- 
selves." — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 51. 



84 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

by constant practice, are dexterous in laying and exe- 
cuting them. And the slender line, nearly four 
miles long, which your army must make, may ex- 
pose it to be attacked by surprise on its flanks, and 
to be cut, like thread, into several pieces, which, 
from their distance, cannot come up in time to sup- 
port one another." 

Franklin adds, *' He smiled at my ignorance, and 
replied, ' These savages may indeed be a formidable 
enemy to raw American militia, but upon the king's 
regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible 
they should make any impression.' 

'* I was conscious of an impropriety in my disput- 
ing with a military man on matters of his profession, 
and said no more." * 

There were many delays ; and it was not until 
the 20th of May, that the army reached Wills' 
Creek, where there was a frontier post called Fort 
Cumberland. Here again there were delays, which 
Washington deemed the result of want of judgment. 
On the loth of June, the march was resumed, and 
the army commenced, what Washington called, 
" the tremendous undertaking," of dragging the 
artillery and the heavily-laded wagons up the steep 
and rugged mountain road, which the engineers had 
been sent forward to open. 

* "Autobiography of Franklin/' Sparks' edition, p. 90. 



THE FRENCH WAR. 85 

Washington very strongly disapproved of the 
great number of horses and wagons required by the 
officers for the transportation of their baggage, with 
many needless luxuries. He was astonished and 
appalled at the recklessness with which the march was 
conducted ; and he could not refrain from warn- 
ing his superior officer of the peril to which the 
army was exposed in its thin line several miles in 
extent. 

" The French officers," said he, " through their 
Indian runners, will keep themselves informed of 
every step of our progress. The eyes of these sav- 
age scouts, from the glooms of the forest and the 
distant crags, are continually fixed upon us. We are 
in danger, every hour, of falling into an ambush, when 
our men and horses will be shot down by volleys of 
bullets from an invisible foe. And that foe can 
instantly take flight, beyond all possibility of pursuit. 
The French officers can lead hundreds of the savage 
warriors to plunge, in a sudden onset, upon our strag- 
gling line, and striking fiercely on the right and left, 
plunder and burn many wagons, throw the whole 
line into confusion, and retire unharmed, before it 
will be possible to concentrate any force to repel 
them." 

It would seem that such suggestions would be 
obvious to any man of ordinary intelligence. Gen- 



86 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

eral Braddock, with a smile of incredulity and con- 
tempt, listened to these warnings of his youthful aide, 
and pQhtely intimated that a Major-General in the 
regular army of his majesty the king of Great Britain 
was not to be taught the art of war by a young Amer- 
ican provincial, who had never seen even the inside 
of a military school. 

When the army commenced its march from Fort 
Cumberland, Washington was quite dazzled by the 
brilliance of the scene. He declares it to have been 
the most beautiful and inspiriting spectacle he had 
ever beheld. The British troops were dressed in full 
and gaudy uniform. They were arranged in columns, 
and marched with precision of drill such as Wash- 
ington had never seen before. The beams of the 
unclouded sun were reflected from silken banners 
and burnished arms, while well-trained musical bands 
caused the forests to resound with their martial 
strains. The officers were mounted on prancing 
steeds, in the highest condition. The fiver flowed 
tranquilly by, an emblem, not of horrid war, but of 
peaceful, opulent, and happy homes. All were in- 
spirited with hope and confidence. 

Such was the commencement of the campaign. 
How different the scene presented, when, at the close 
of a few weeks, the fragments of this army returned, 
bleeding, exhausted, starving — a struggling band of 



THE FRENCH WAR. 8/ 

fugitives, one half of their number having been killed 
aad scalped by the Indians. 

Washington soon became convinced of the inca- 
pacity of General Braddock to conduct such an enter- 
prise as that upon which he had entered. He 
writes:* 

'' I found that, instead of pushing on with vigor, 
without regarding a little rough road, they were 
halting to level every mole-hill, and to erect bridges 
over every brook, by which means we were four days 
in getting twelve miles." f 

On one occasion Washington said, * If our march 
is to be regulated by the slow movements of the 
train, it will be very tedious." Braddock smiled 
contemptuously at this indication of the ignorance 
of the young American officer in reference to the 
march of armies. 

Without encountering any opposition, the army 

surmounted the rugged acclivities, and threaded the 

.long defiles of the mountains, until, from the dreary 

expanse, they entered upon the luxuriant, blooming, 

* '* Braddock's own secretary, William Shirley, wrote confideiitially 
to Governor Morris, ' We have a general most judiciously chosen for 
being disqualified for the service he is employed in, in almost every 
respect.' " — Colonial Records, p. 405. 

\ Walpole wittily wrote, " The Duke of Brunswick is much dis- 
satisfied at the slowness of General Braddock, who does not march as 
if he was at all impatient to be scalped." This was unjust. Want of 
courage was not one of the faults of General Braddock. 



88 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

magnificent valley of apparently boundless reach 
beyond. This successful passage of the mountains 
inspired Major-General Braddock with renewed self- 
confidence. His deportment said, every hour, to 
his youthful American aid, '' You see that a British 
officer cannot be instructed in the art of war by a 
young Virginian." 

The lips of Washington were sealed. Not an- 
other word could he utter. But he knew full well 
that an hour of awful disaster was approaching, and 
one which he could do nothing whatever to avert. 
On the 9th of July the sun rose over the Alle- 
ghanies, which were left far away in the east, in 
cloudless splendor. The army, in joyous march, was 
approaching the banks of the Monongahela. 

It was one of those lovely days in which all 
nature seems happy. The flowers were in their rich- 
est bloom. The birds were swelling their throats with 
their sweetest songs. Balmy airs scarcely rippled 
the surface of the rivulet, along whose banks the 
troops were marching. All the sights and sounds 
of nature seemed to indicate that God intended this 
for a happy world ; where he wished to see his 
children dwelling lovingly together, in the inter- 
change of all deeds of fraternal kindness. It was 
such a day as Herbert has beautifully pictured in 
the words : 



THE FRENCH WAR. 89 

*' .Sweet day, so still, so calm, so bright, 
The bridal of the earth and sky," 

The troops were defiling through a ravine which 
presented a natural path for their march. On either 
side the eminences were covered with the majestic 
forest and dense and almost impenetrable thickets of 
underbrush. The narrow passage was very circui- 
tous. It was just the spot which any one familiar 
with Indian warfare would carefully explore, before 
allowing a long line of troops to become entangled 
in its labyrinthine trail. But there was no pause in 
the march ; no scouts were sent along the eminences 
to search for an ambush ; no precautions whatever 
were adopted to guard against surprise. 

The troops were now within a few miles of Fort 
Duquesne. The march had been triumphantly ac- 
complished. Braddock was sanguine in the assur- 
ance that before the sun should set his banners 
would float, in triumph, over the fortress, and his 
army would be sheltered within its walls. He was 
exulting. Washington was appalled in view of the 
danger which still menaced them. Proudly Brad- 
dock hurried along, with his straggHng band. 
Jokes and laughter resounded, as the burnished 
muskets and polished cannon of the British regulars 
brilliantly reflected the sunbeams. 

The hour of doom had come. Suddenly there 



90 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

was a thunder-burst of musketry, as from the cloud- 
less skies. A storm of bullets, piercing the flesh, 
shattering the bones, swept the astounded ranks. 
It was like a supernatural attack from invisible 
spirits. Not a musket was revealed. Not an indi- 
vidual was to be seen. But from hundreds of 
stentorian throats the hideous war-whoop burst, 
leading those, who had never head those shrill yells 
before, to apprehend that they were assailed, not by 
mortal foes, but by incarnate fiends. 

The Indians were unerring marksmen. They 
were aUies of the French, and their savage ferocity 
was guided by European science. Crash followed 
crash in rapid succession. The ground was instantly 
covered with the dead and the dying. The horses, 
goaded by bullets and terrified to frenzy, reared and 
plunged, and tore along the Hne, dragging fragments 
of wagons after them, and trampling the living and 
the dead into the mire. The ranks were thrown 
into utter consternation. There was no defence that 
could be made. And still the deadly storm of 
bullets fell upon them, while a feeble return fire 
was attempted, which merely threw its bullets 
against the rocks, or buried them in the gigantic 
trees. The Indians were derisively laughing at the 
convulsive and impotent struggles of their victims. 

Washington, who had been appalled as he antici- 



THE FRENCH WAR. 9 1 

pated this terrific scene, now that the awful hour had 
come, was perfectly calm and self-possessed. He had 
previously made the arrangement with some of the 
provincial officers, precisely what to do in the 
emergence. The Virginia troops were somewhat 
scattered. Washington was on horseback. Almost 
instantly his horse was shot beneath him. He sprang 
upon another, from which the rider had fallen ; but 
scarcely was he seated in the saddle, ere that horse 
dropped to the ground, pierced by the bullet. Four 
bullets passed through his clothing. All this occurred 
in almost less time than it has taken to describe it. 

The scene was one to appall the stoutest nerves. 
The yells of the savages, the clamor of the pan- 
ic-stricken soldiers, the frantic plungings of the 
wounded steeds, the utter and helpless confusion, the 
unceasing rattle of musketry, the storm of leaden 
hail, the incessant dropping of the dead, and the 
moans of the wounded, all united in presenting a 
spectacle which could scarcely be rivalled in the 
realms of despair. How different this awful scene 
of battle from the picture of loveliness, peace, and 
happiness, which the valley exhibited, reposing in its 
Maker's smiles, as that morning's sun flooded it with 
its beams. 

Braddock was a Briton, and, almost of course a 
man of physical courage. Even pride was sufficiently 



92 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

strong to prevent any display of cowardice. With 
bull-dog daring, he stood his ground, and issued his 
orders, endeavoring in vain to marshal his troops in 
battle array. At length a bullet struck him, and he 
fell mortally wounded. An awful scene of confusion 
and horror was presented. There were six hundred 
invisible foes in ambush. They were armed with the 
best of French muskets, and were supported by a 
small band of highly discipHned French troops. 

Washington rallied all the Americans within his 
reach, and each man, posting himself behind a tree, 
fired not a bullet without taking deliberate aim. 
The English huddled together, and senselessly, in 
their frenzy, firing at random, presented a fair target 
to the Indian marksmen, and fell as fast as the sav- 
ages could load and fire. As the Indians rushed 
from their covert, with tomahawk aud scalping-knife 
to seize their bloody trophy of scalps, from the dead 
and the wounded, who were struggling upon the 
ground, the Americans, with their rapid and deadly 
fire checked them, and drove them back. But for 
this the army would have been utterly destroyed. 
The English regulars were helpless. " They ran," 
wrote Washington, '' like sheep before the hounds." 

The rout was complete. Braddock, bleeding, 
exhausted, and experiencing the intensest mental 
anguish, begged to be left upon the field to die. 



THE FRENCH WAR. , 93 

Everything was abandoned. The wagoners and artil- 
lery-men, cutting the traces, mounted the horses and 
fled. Fortunately, the savages were too much 
engaged in plunder to pursue. The carnage had 
been awful. Out of eighty-six officers, twenty-six 
were killed and thirty-six wounded. Over seven 
hundred of th'e rank and file fell. The tomahawk 
of the savage soon numbered the wounded with 
the slain. 

Braddock was hurried from the field in a litter, 
and his wounds dressed about a mile from the scene 
of carnage. He could not mount a horse, and had to 
be carried. A woe-stricken band of eighty soldiers 
formed his escort. For four days he lingered in 
great pain, and then died. Once he was heard to 
exclaim : " Who would have thought it." It is also 
said that he apologized to Washington for the 
manner in which he had rejected his advice. His 
remains were buried in the road, and all indications 
of his grave concealed, lest the Indians might dis- 
cover the spot. In the gloom of night the melan- 
choly funeral ceremonies were performed. Wash- 
ington read the burial service. It is probable that 
not even a volley was fired over his grave. Seldom 
has there been recorded a more sad close of an 
ambitious life. 

The army of Braddock was annihilated. The 



94 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

French, conscious that it could do no further harm, 
left the starving, stagg'ering, bleeding remains to 
struggle back to Virginia. They returned to Fort 
Duquesne, to rejoic-e over the victory, and to 
strengthen their works, in preparation for another 
assault, should the attempt be renewed. 

There was, at that time, an English officer, Colo- 
nel James Smith, a captive at the fort. He has 
given a minute and exceedingly interesting account 
of the scenes which had transpired, and which con- 
tinued to be enacted there. His narrative throws 
much light upon the character of the conflict, and 
upon the woes with which man's inhumanity can 
crush his brother man. 

He says that Indian scouts were every hour 
watching, from mountain crags and forest thickets, 
the advance of the army. Every day swift runners 
came to the fort with their report. The French 
commandant was kept as intimately acquainted with 
the condition of the army," and its position, as Brad- 
dock could have been himself. These warriors, in- 
telligent men, with established military principles, 
loudly derided the folly of Braddock, declaring that 
he was nothing but a fool. As they described his 
straggling and defenceless line, its utter exposure, 
the course which they knew he must pursue, and 
the ambush they were preparing for his destruction, 



THE FRENCH WAR. 95 

they would burst into boisterous laughter, saying, 
** We will shoot 'em all down, same as one pigeon." 

It is a great mistake to imagine that men must 
be simpletons because they can neither read nor 
write. It is said that Charlemagne could not even 
write his own name. And many of the most illus- 
trious warriors of ancient days had no acquaintance 
whatever with books. No one can read, with an 
impartial spirit, the history of the Indian wars, with- 
out admitting that there were in many cases, Indian 
chiefs who entirely outgeneralled their English an- 
tagonists. The scene of events at the fort is very' 
vividly presented by Colonel Smith. 

Early in the morning of the day in which the 
attack was to be made, there was great and joyous 
commotion in and around the fort. The Indians, 
some six or seven hundred in number, were greatly 
elated. They seemed to be as sure of victory then as 
they were after it had been attained. 

There was hurrying to and fro, examining the 
muskets, filling the powder-horns from open kegs of 
powder, storing away bullets in their leathern 
pouches, and hurrying off in small bands, in single 
file, through the trails of the forest. About an 
equal number of .French troops accompanied the 
Indians. 

Soon all were gone, save the small garrison left in 



96 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

charge. Slowly and silently the hours of the long 
summer day passed, when late in the afternoon the 
triumphant shouts of fleet-footed runners were 
heard in the forest, announcing the tidings of the 
great victory — tidings which awoke the garrison to 
enthusiasm, but which filled the heart of Colonel 
Smith with dismay. They brought the intelligence 
that the English were huddled together and sur- 
rounded, in utter dismay and confusion, in a narrow 
ravine, from which escape was almost impossible. 
The Indians, from their concealments, were shooting 
them down as fast as they could load and fire. They 
said that before sundown all would be killed. 

The whoops or yells of the savages had various 
significations. There was the war-whoop, with 
which their fierce natures were roused to the attack. 
There was the cry of retreat, at whose signal all 
seemed instantaneously to vanish. And there was 
the exultant, triumphant " scalp-halloo," with which 
they made the forests resound, when they returned 
to the camp, dangling the gory trophies of victory.* 

Soon a band of about a hundred savages ap- 

* Mr. Irving, writing of the assailants says, " They were not the 
main force of the French, but a mere detachment of 72 Regulars, 146 
Canadians, and 637 Indians, 855 in all, led by Captain de Beaujeu. 
Such was the scanty force which the imagination of the panic-stricken 
army had magnified into a great host, and from which they had fled, 
in breathless terror, abandoning the whole frontier." — Life of Wash- 
ington, vol. i. p. 206. 



THE FRENCH WAR. 97 

peared, yelling like so many demons In their frantic, 
boisterous joy. It was the greatest victory they had 
ever known or conceived of. Braddock's army was 
laden not only with all conveniences but with all 
luxuries. The Indians were astounded, bewildered, 
at the amount and richness of the plunder they had 
gained. It was more than they could carry away, 
and it presented to them a spectacle of wealth and 
splendor such as the fabled lamp of Aladdin never 
revealed. The savages returned stooping beneath 
the load of grenadiers' caps, canteens, muskets, 
swords, bayonets, and rich uniforms which they had 
stripped from the dead. All had dripping scalps, 
and several had money. Colonel Smith writes : 

'' Those that were coming in and those that had 
arrived, kept a constant firing of small-arms, and 
also of the great guns in the fort, which was accom- 
panied by the most hideous shouts and yells from 
all quarters ; so that it appeared to me as if the 
infernal regions had broke loose. About sundown 
I beheld a small party coming in with about a 
dozen prisoners, stripped naked, with their hands 
tied behind their backs. Their faces, and parts of 
their bodies were blackened. These prisoners they 
burned to death on the banks of the Alleghany river, 
opposite to the fort. I stood on the fort walls until 
I beheld them begin to burn one of these men. 
5 



98 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

They tied him to a stake and kept touching him 
with fire-brands, red-hot irons, etc., and he scream- 
ing in the most doleful manner. The Indians, in the 
meantime, were yelling Hke infernal spirits. As this 
scene was too shocking for me to behold, I returned 
to my lodgings, both sorry and sore.^ 

*' From the best information I could receive, 
there were only seven Indians and four French killed 
in this battle. Five hundred British lay dead in the 
field, besides what were killed in the river, after 
their retreat. The morning after the battle, I saw 
Braddock's artilleiy brought into fort. The same 
day also I saw several Indians in the dress of British 
officers, with the sashes, half moons, laced hats, etc., 
which the British wore." 

On the 17th of July, Washington, at the head of 
his sad cavalcade, reached Fort Cumberland. Fugi- 
tives had already brought reports of the disaster. 
Washington, knowing the terrible anxiety of his 
family wrote as follows to his mother. 

" The Virginia troops showed a good deal of 
bravery, and were nearly all killed. The dastardly 

* There can be no possible excuse for the French officers, in per- 
mitting this barbarity. The Indians were their allies, instigated to 
the war by their influence, inarching under their banners, led by 
their officers, and paid by their money. They were therefore re- 
sponsible for the conduct of these their allies. To permit them, under 
the very walls of Fort Duquesne, to put the captives to death by tor- 
ture, was an atrocious crime meriting the execration of humanity. 



THE FRENCH WAR. 99 

behavior of those they called Regulars, exposed all 
others, that were ordered to do their duty, to almost 
certain death. At last, in despite of all the efforts 
of the officers to the contrary, they ran, as sheep 
pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally 
them." 

The American troops, who, in silent exaspera- 
tion, had allowed themselves to be led, by the folly 
of Braddock, into the valley of death, had, in some 
way, become acquainted with the warnings and 
remonstrances of Washington. This foresight, com- 
bined with the perfect courage he had displayed 
on the battle-field, gave them the highest opinion of 
his military abilities. They proclaimed his fame far 
and wide. Thus the ignominious defeat of the 
British Major-General redounded to the honor of 
his American aide. 

After the lapse of eighty years a gold seal of 
Washington, containing his initials, was found upon 
the battle-field. A bullet had struck it from his 
person. The precious relic is in possession of one 
of the family. 

This total defeat of the Enghsh, established, for 
a time, the entire ascendency of the French in the 
valley of the Ohio and on the great lakes. Wash- 
ington reached Mount Vernon on the 26th of July, 
in a very feeble condition of bodily health. He was 



lOO GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

probably well satisfied that there is but little pleas- 
ant music to be found in the whistling of hostile 
bullets. To his brother Augustine he wrote, in 
reference to his frontier experience ; 

" I was employed to go a journey in the winter, 
when I believe few or none would have undertaken 
it. What did I get by it ? My expenses borne. 
I was then appointed, with trifling pay, to conduct a 
handful of men to the Ohio. What did I get for 
that ? Why, after putting myself to a considerable 
expense in equipping and providing necessaries for 
the campaign, I went out, was soundly beaten and 
lost all ! Came in, and had my commission taken 
from me ; or, in other words, my command reduced, 
under pretence of an order from home [England]. 
I then went out a volunteer with General Brad- 
dock ; and lost all my horses and many other things. 
But this, being a voluntary act, I ought not to have 
mentioned it ; nor should I have done it, were it 
not to show that I have been on the losing order, 
ever since I entered the service, which is now nearly 
two years." 

The French and the English now alike infa- 
mously engaged in enlisting the Indians to aid them 
in the conflict. These benighted savages seem to 
have had no more idea of mercy than had the 
wolves. They burned the lonely cabins, tomahawked 



THE FRENCH WAR. 1 01 

and scalped women and children, carried mothers 
and maidens into the most awful captivity, and often 
put their helpless victims to the torture. And yet 
the nobility of France and the lords of England 
looked complacently on, while they goaded the sav- 
ages to their infernal deeds. 

The English settlers outnumbered the French 
more than ten to one. But the French, in actual 
possession of the lakes and the valley, could rally 
around their banners a vastly more powerful force of 
savages than the English could summon. Thus the 
English were much more exposed than the French. 
The savages having lapped blood, and generally 
hating the English, entered eagerly upon the work 
of conflagration, plunder, and slaughter. 

There were American hamlets of log huts, and 
lonely American farm-houses, scattered through the 
wilderness for a distance of four hundred miles along 
the western frontier of Virginia. But the court 
and cabinet of Great Britain considered their weal 
or woe a matter of but little consequence compared 
with the national glory to be obtained in driving the 
French from this whole continent.* 

* The plan of the British campaign of 1755, in which Braddock 
met his disaster, was four-fold : first to capture Nova Scotia ; second, 
to drive the French from their posts on Lake Champlain ; third, to 
seize the important French fort at Niagara, between Lake Ontario 
and Lake George, and fourth, to expel all French settlers from the 



102 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Fifteen hundred plumed, painted, howling savages 
were soon the allies of France, perpetrating deeds 
which one shudders to record. At midnight these 
demons of the human race would burst from the for- 
est, and rush howling upon some hut where the poor 
defenceless emigrant, with his wife and his children, 
was tremblingly sleeping. In an hour the dreadful 
tragedy was completed. The yells of the savages ■ 
drowned the shrieks of the mother and her babe, 
as they fell beneath the tomahawk. The cabin 
was in ashes. The savages had disappeared. The 
rising sun revealed but the gory corpses in their 
shocking mutilation. 

For the protection of the frontier, thus exposed 
to the greatest woes of which the imagination can 
conceive, Virginia raised a force of seven hundred 
men, which was placed under the experienced com- 
mand of Colonel Washington. For three years he 
was engaged in these arduous but almost unavailing 
labors. No one could tell at what point the wary 
Indian would strike a blow. Having struck it, the 
demoniac band vanished into the glooms of the 
wilderness, where pursuit was impossible. There is 
some excuse to be found for the fiend-like deeds of 
the savages, in the ignorance, and in the principles 

frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, and take entire possession of 
the Ohio valley. — Irving's Life of Washington^vo\. i. p. 152. 



THE FRENCH WAR. IO3 

of war which they and their ancestors had ever cher- 
ished. But there is no excuse whatever to be found 
for those French and EngHsh statesmen, who em- 
ployed such agents for the accompHshment of their 
ambitious projects. The scenes of woe, which 
Washington often witnessed, were so dreadful that, in 
after life, he could seldom bear to recur to them. 
We will give one instance, which he has related, as 
illustrative of manyothers. 

One day as, with a small detachment of troops, 
he was traversing a portion of the frontier, he came 
to a solitary log cabin, in a little clearing, which the 
axe of a settler had effected in the heart of the forest. 
As they were approaching, through the woods, the 
report of a gun arrested their attention. Cautiously 
they crept through the underbrush, until they came 
in full sight of the cabin. . Smoke was curling up 
through the roof, while a large party of savages, with 
piles of plunder by their side, were shouting and 
swinging their bleeding scalps, as they danced round 
their booty. As soon as they caught sight of the 
soldiers they fled into the forest with the swiftness 
of deer. In the following words Washington de- 
scribes the scene which was then opened before 
them : 

" On entering we saw a sight that, though we 
were familiar with blood and massacre, struck us, at 



104 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

least myself, with feelings more mournful than I had 
ever experienced before. On the bed, in one corner 
of the room, lay the body of a young woman, swim- 
ming in blood, with a gash in her forehead, which 
almost separated the head into two parts. On her 
breast lay two little babes, apparently twins, less than 
a twelve-month old, with their heads also cut open. 
Their innocent blood which once flowed in the same 
veins, now mingled in one current again. I was 
inured to scenes of bloodshed and misery, but this 
cut me to the soul. Never in my after life, did I 
raise my hand against a savage, without calling to 
mind the mother with her little twins, their heads 
cleft asunder." 

The soldiers eagerly pursued the fugitive sav- 
ages. They had gone but a short distance from the 
house, when they found the father of the family and 
his little boy, both dead and scalped in the field. 
The father had been holding the plough, and his son 
driving the horse, when the savages came upon them. 
From ambush they had shot down the father, and 
the terrified little boy had run some distance toward 
the house, when he was overtaken and cut down by 
the tomahawk. Thus the whole family perished. 
Such were the perils of a home on the frontiers, in 
those sad days. In allusion to these awful scenes 
WashinGfton wrote : 



THE FRENCH WAR. IO5 

" On leaving one spot, for the protection of 
another point of exposure, the scene was often such 
as I shall never forget. The women and children 
clung round our knees, beseeching us to stay and pro- 
tect them, and crying out to us, for God's sake, not 
to leave them to be butchered by the savages. A 
hundred times, I declare to heaven, I would have 
laid down my life with pleasure, could I have insured 
the safety of those suffering people by the sacrifice." 

During the years 1756 and 1757, the English 
met a constant series of disasters. The French fur- 
nished their Indian allies with the best muskets, and 
amply supplied them with ammunition. A small 
band of French, under skilful officers, would 
take lead. They could call to their aid any 
number almost they wished of Indian warriors. 
These hardy men, cautious and sagacious, were 
highly disciplined in the kind of warfare in which 
they were engaged. They were by no means to be 
despised. In such enterprises they were far more 
valuable than European troops could have been. If 
there be fiendish work to be done, fiends are needed 
as the agents. 

In February 1756, some matters of state called 
Washington to Boston. He travelled the distance, 
five hundred miles, on horseback, and in considerable 
state. He was accompanied by two aides. The 

5* 



I06 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

three officers had each black servants dressed In 
livery. All were well mounted. In Philadelphia 
and New York Washington was received with dis- 
tinguished honors. 

Almost every man must have his first love. It is 
very confidently asserted that Washington, young, 
rich, handsome, and renowned, became an ardent and 
open admirer of a beautiful and highly accomplished 
lady. Miss Philipse."^ It is even said that he sought 
her hand, and was refused. This is not probable. 
He remained in Boston but ten days ; the press of 
business demanding a speedy return. The lady sub- 
sequently married Captain Morris.f 

Napoleon once said that he could easily imagine 
himself surrounded from infancy by family influences, 
education and companionship, which should have led 
him, instead of espousing the cause of the people, to 
have been an ardent defender of the ancient regime. 
Mr. Everett writes : 

'' One cannot but bestow a passing thought on 

* Mr. Sparks gives the name, Miss Mary Phillips ; Mr. Everett 
spells it Phillipse ; and Mr, Irving gives it as Philipse. 

f " He had before felt the influence of the tender passion. At the 
age of seventeen he was smitten by the graces of a fair one, whom he 
called a ' Lowland beauty,' and whose praises he recorded in glowing 
strains, while wandering with his surveyor's compass among the Alle- 
ghany Mountains. On that occasion he wrote desponding letters to a 
friend, and indited plaintive verses, but never ventured to reveal his 
emotions to the lady who was unconsciously the cause of his pains." 
— Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 73. 



THE FRENCH WAR. 10/ 

the question, What might have been the effect on 
the march of events, if Washington, at the age of 
twenty-five, and before the controversies between the 
mother country and the colonies had commenced, 
had formed a matrimonial alliance with a family of 
wealth and influence, in New York, which adhered to 
the royal cause and left America, as loyalists, when 
the war broke out ? It is a somewhat curious fact, 
that Washington's head-quarters, during a part of 
the campaign of 1776, were established in the stately 
mansion of the Morrises, on the Harlem river."* 

* " Life of George Washington/' by Edward Everett, p. 87. 



CHAPTER IV. 
The Warrior, the Statesmatt, and the Planter, 

Political Views of Washington — Lord Fairfax — Greenway Court — 
Panic at Winchester — Raids of the Savages — Policy of the British 
Government — Trials of Washington — The Ministry of Pitt — The 
New Rout^ — Scarvoyadi the Chief — The Rendezvous at Winches- 
ter — Washington meets Martha Custis — The Result — Washing- 
ton elected to the House of Burgesses — Opening the New Route — 
Recklessness of Major Grant — The Disaster — The Melancholy 
March — The Fort Abandoned and Destroyed — The Return — 
Splendors of Mount Vernon. 

The remonstrances of Washington against the 
folly of cutting a new road were unavailing. As we 
have mentioned, the people were not in sympathy 
with these war measures. They were unwilling to 
enlist, and still more unwilling to furnish supplies. 
Washington, at this period of his life, had very high 
notions of military authority. He was then by no 
means a democrat, and not even a republican. In 
his view, it was the duty of the people to obey the 
orders of the court, not to question them. He was 
compelled to impress both wagons and wagoners. 
They could be obtained in no other way. In his 
indignation he wrote : 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. I09 

** No orders are obeyed but such as a party of 
soldiers or my own drawn sword enforces. Without 
this, not a single horse, for the most earnest occasion, 
can be had ; to such a pitch has the insolence of this 
people arrived, by having every point hitherto sub- 
mitted to them. However, I have given up none, 
where his majesty's service requires the contrary, and 
where my proceedings are justified by my instruc- 
tions ; nor will I, unless they execute what they 
threaten, and blow out our brains." '^ 

Washington was at Winchester, gathering troops 
for the new expedition. The savages were ravaging the 
frontier, murdering travellers, burning farm-houses, 
butchering and scalping the inhabitants. They had 
even crossed the western ridge of the Alleghanies 
and penetrated the valley of the Shenandoah. Even 
the baronial home of Lord Fairfax was menaced by 
them. Greenway Court, as his stately mansion was 
called, was surrounded by the majestic forest, where 
the savages, in large numbers, could gather unseen. 
The scalp of his lordship would be considered by 
them an inestimable trophy. His friends urged 

* " One is tempted to smile at this tirade about the ' insolence of 
the people,' and this zeal for 'his majesty's service/ on the part of 
Washington ; but he was yet a young man and a young officer. What 
he thus terms insolence was the dawning spirit of independence, 
which he was afterward the foremost to cherish and promote." — 
Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 215. 



no GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

that he should abandon the place and take refuge in 
some of the lower settlements. The British noble- 
man, with spirit characteristic of his race, replied to 
his nephew. Colonel Martin, who was urging this 
measure : 

'' I am an old man, and it is of but little impor- 
tance whether I fall by the tomahawk or die of 
disease and old age. But you are young, and, it is 
to be hoped, have many years before you ; therefore 
decide for us both. My only fear is that, if we retire, 
the whole district will break up and take to flight ; 
and the fine country, which I have been at such cost 
and trouble to improve, will again become a 
wilderness." 

It was decided to remain, and convert Greenway 
Court into a sort of fortress, garrisoned by the slaves 
of Lord Fairfax, and his numerous other retainers. 
Aid could also be speedily summoned from Winches- 
ter. Washington, at Winchester, organized a band of 
Americans familiar with forest life, and explored the 
hiding places in the mountains and valleys in search 
of the prowling bands of savages. 

The panic at Winchester was dreadful. Every 
hour brought its tale of horror. Only twenty miles 
from the town, in the Warm Spring Mountain, a 
scouting party of the English was attacked by the 
savages, all on horseback. The captain and several 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. Ill 

of the soldiers were shot down. The rest were put 
to flight by the victorious Indians. It was daily 
expected that the town would be attacked. All 
looked to Washington as their only protector. 
The consternation of the women was dreadful. 
They came to him, with their children in their arms, 
and implored him to save them from the savages. 
The heart of Washington was often wrung with 
anguish. He wrote to Governor Dinwiddle : 

*' I am too little accquainted with pathetic lan- 
guage to attempt a description of this people's 
distress. But what can I do ? I see their situation. 
I know their danger and participate their sufferings, 
without having it in my power to give them further 
relief than uncertain promises. 

'' The supplicating tears of the women, and peti- 
tions of the men, melt me into such deadly sorrow 
that I solemnly declare, if I know my own mind, I 
could offer myself a willing sacrifice to the butcher- 
ing enemy, provided that would contribute to the 
people's ease." 

Washington himself was bitterly assailed. 
Every outrage inflicted by the Indians was charged 
to his neglect or incompetency. His sensitive 
nature w^as stung to the quick. His situation was 
indeed deplorable. He derived neither honor nor 
emolument from his command. He was shut up in 



112 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

a frontier town, surrounded by savage hordes, whose 
ravages his feeble band could by no means arrest. 
He declared that nothing but the imminent danger 
of the times prevented him from resigning his com- 
mand. His friend Mr. Robinson, Speaker of the 
House of Burgesses, wrote to him : 

" Our hopes, dear George, are all fixed on you, 
for bringing our affairs to a happy issue. Consider 
what fatal consequences to your country your resign- 
ing the command, at this time, may be ; especially 
as there is no doubt most of the officers will follow 
your example." 

The House of Burgesses was in favor of the 
policy of erecting a chain of frontier forts to extend 
a distance of about four hundred miles, through 
the solitudes of the Alleghany mountains, from the 
Potomac to the borders of North Carolina. 

Washington considered this measure quite inju- 
dicious. To render it of any avail, it would be 
necessary that the forts should be within about 
fifteen miles of each other, so that the intervening 
country could be daily explored. Otherwise the 
Indians would rush between, and, having effected 
their ravages would escape back to the forest where 
pursuit would be fruitless. The forts would have to 
be very strongly garrisoned, for French artillery 
could be brought against them, and almost any 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. II3 

number of savage warriors. The cost of rearing 
so many forts would be immense. They could not 
be suitably garrisoned by less than two thousand 
men. Washington, therefore, proposed that, instead 
of this series of forts, there should be a strong central 
fortress at Winchester, and three or four large for- 
tresses, at-convenient distances on the frontier, from 
which parties could easily explore the surrounding 
country. He also made many other suggestions of 
reform In the military service, which developed, thus 
early, the sagacity and forethought which so signally 
characterized him In future life. Many of the 
suggestions of Washington, Governor Dinwiddle 
rejected. But the central fortress at Winchester and 
the frontier posts were reared. 

The repeated inroads of the savages had driven 
nearly all the inhabitants out of the beautiful valley 
of the Shenandoah. The woes which these poor fugi- 
tives endured cannot well be imagined. It was the 
object of the British government, not only to expel 
the French from the valley of the Ohio, but also 
from the valley of the St. Lawrence. The necessity 
of collecting troops from. Pennsylvania and Virginia, 
to attack the French in Canada, greatly weakened 
the power of the Americans in the more southern 
States, to protect their homes. 

Every man who attains celebrity pays a heavy 



114 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

price for the attainment. Washington, in one of his 
hours of anguish, when he was thwarted in his most 
important plans, and assailed by a constant torrent 
of abuse, wrote, in reference to a very unwelcome 
order he had received : 

" The late order reverses, confuses, and incom- 
modes everything ; to say nothing of the extraor- 
dinary expense of carriage, disappointments, losses, 
and alterations which must fall heavily upon the 
country. Whence it arises, or why, I am truly igno- 
rant. But my strongest representations of matters 
relative to the peace of the frontiers are disregarded 
as idle and frivolous ; my propositions and measures 
as partial and selfish ; and all my sincerest en- 
deavors, for the service of my country, are per- 
verted to the worst purposes. My orders are 
dark, doubtful, uncertain ; to-day approved, to-mor- 
row condemned. 

*' Left to act and proceed at hazard, accountable 
for the consequences, and blamed without the 
benefit of defence, if you can think my situation 
capable of exciting the smallest degree of envy, or 
affording the least satisfaction, the truth is yet 
hidden from you, and you entertain notions very 
different from the case." * 

Care, exposure, and sorrow threw Washington 

* Sparks' " Life of Washington," p. 8l. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. II5 

into a burning fever. He retired to Mount Vernon, 
v/here he was reduced very low, and four months 
passed away before he was able to resume his com 
mand. This was on the ist of March, 1758. 

Much to the relief of Washington, Governor 
Dinwiddie, in January, had sailed for England. 
The Earl of Loudon succeeded him. But, busily 
engaged in organizing an expedition for the inva- 
sion of Canada, the earl did not immediately enter 
upon the duties of his office in Virginia. William 
Pitt was now prime minister of Great Britain. 

As one of his first measures, in the year 175^ 
a strong expedition was organized, consisting of six 
thousand men, to march against Fort Duquesne. 
General Forbes was appointed to the command of 
the whole force. Virginia raised two thousand 
troops. These were divided into two regiments. 
Washington, who had been appointed by the Assem- 
bly, commander-in-chief of all the Virginia troops, 
was also colonel of the first regiment. Colonel Byrd 
led the second. Colonel Bouquet, in command of 
the British regulars, was in the advance, marshalling 
his forces in the centre of Pennsylvania. 

Early in July, Washington, with his troops, 
marching from Winchester, reached Fort Cumber- 
land. Two of his companies he dressed in Indian 
costume. To Colonel Bouquet he wrote : 



Il6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

*' My men are bare of regimental clothing, and I 
have no prospect of supply. So far from regretting 
this want, during the present campaign, if I were left 
to pursue my own inclinations, I would not only 
order the men to adopt the Indian dress, but cause 
the officers to do it also, and be the first to set the 
example myself. Nothing but the uncertainty of 
obtaining the general approbation causes me to hesi- 
tate a moment to leave my regimentals in this place, 
and proceed as light as any Indian in the woods. It 
is an unbecoming dress, I own ; but convenience 
rather than show, I think, should be consulted." 

Notwithstanding the earnest remonstrances of 
Washington, it was decided to cross the mountains 
by a new route. With immense labor, a road had 
been cut for the passage of wagons and artillery, 
along which Braddock's army had passed. Slight 
repairs would put this road in good condition. 
Washington presented an accurate estimate, show- 
ing that the whole army could be at Fort Duquesne 
in thirty-four days, with a supply of provisions 
remaining on hand for eighty-seven days. But Col- 
onel Bouquet was firm in his resolution to open a 
new route, from Raystown, through Pennsylvania. 
Washington, after an interview with Bouquet, wrote, 
on the 2d of August, to a friend, Major Halket : 

*' I have just returned from a conference with 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 11/ 

Colonel Bouquet. I find him fixed — I think I may 
say unalterably fixed — to lead you a new way to the 
Ohio, through a road every inch of which is to be 
cut, at this advanced season, when we have scarce 
time to tread the beaten track, universally confessed 
to be the best passage through the mountains. If 
Colonel Bouquet succeeds in this point, all is lost — 
all is lost indeed. Our enterprise will be ruined, 
and we shall be stopped at the Laurel Hill this win- 
ter ; the southern Indians will turn against us, and 
these colonies will be desolated by such an accession 
to the enemy's strength. These must be the conse- 
quences of a miscarriage ; and a miscarriage is 
almost the necessary consequence of an attempt to 
march the army by this new route." 

Quite a large band of Indians were engaged as 
allies of the English on this expedition. They were 
led by a very intelligent and distinguished chief, 
called Scarvoyadi. There were several tribes who 
recognized his chieftainship. They had kept aloof, 
for some time, from military alliance with either 
party. At length, with some hesitancy, they joined 
the English. Washington considered the aid of 
these bold warriors as of the utmost importance. 
He knew that they were proud, and would quickly 
discern and keenly feel any insult. He therefore urged 



Il8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

that they should be treated with consideration, and 
that they should be consulted on important questions. 

But the British officers had but very httle respect 
for ignorant savages. Many of the warriors, dis- 
gusted with the long delay, deliberately shouldered 
their muskets and marched back through the wilder- 
ness to their homes. They were ready at once to 
respond to the invitations of the French, who ever 
treated them as equals. Scarvoyadi, who still per- 
sonally adhered to the English, wrote to the Gover- 
nor and Council of Pennsylvania, in reference to the 
defeat of Braddock, as follows ; 

'^ As to the defeat at the Monongahela, it was 
owing to the pride and ignorance of that great gen- 
eral who came from England. He is now dead. 
But he was a bad man when he was alive. He 
looked upon us as dogs. He would never hear 
anything we said to him. We often endeavored 
to advise him, and teU him of the danger he was 
in. But he never appeared pleased with us. That 
was the reason why a great many of our warriors 
left him." * 

We have no space here to allude to the great and 
successful campaign in the north, against Canada, 
with which Washington had no connection. But 
operations went on very slowly on the frontiers of 

* Hazard's " Register of Pennsylvania," vol. v. p. 252. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. I IQ 

Virginia. General Forbes, who was commander-in- 
chief, was long detained in Philadelphia. Colonel 
Bouquet, who was to command the advance, assem- 
bled his corps of British regulars at Raystown, in the 
heart of Pennsylvania. There were about three 
thousand five hundred American troops. Provincials, 
as they were called, at other appointed places of 
rendezvous. 

Washinc^ton summoned his two recriments of Vir- 
ginia troops to meet at Winchester. They numbered 
about nineteen hundred men. There were also about 
seven hundred friendly Indians, who came into his 
camp, lured by the high reputation of Washington 
and the prospect of the plunder of Fort Duquesne. 

But when the American young men, from their 
scattered farm-houses in the wilderness, some of 
them distant two hundred miles, arrived at the ren- 
dezvous, they found themselves destitute of every- 
thing needful for so momentous a campaign. They 
were in want of horses, arms, ammunition, tents^ field 
equipage, and almost everything else essential to the 
enterprise. 

It was necessary for Washington immediately to 
repair to Williamsburg, to present the state of the 
case to the Council. When he reached the Pamun- 
kcy river, where there was no bridge, he was carried 
across, with his horse, in a ferry-boat. In the cross- 



120 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ing he chanced to meet a Virginia gentleman of the 
name of Chamberlain, who was wealthy and who 
occupied a mansion in the neighborhood, where he 
entertained his distinguished guests with almost 
baronial hospitality. 

He urged Washington so importunately to accom- 
pany him to his dwelling, at least to dine, that 
Washington, though with great reluctance, as it might 
cause the delay of an hour, felt constrained to accept 
the invitation. Among the guests at the table was 
a very beautiful young widow, by the name of 
Martha Custis. She was wealthy, and both by birth 
and marriage was connected with the most distin- 
guished families in Virginia. 

She was high-bred, accustomed to the most pol- 
ished society, intelligent, and very beautiful. Her 
husband, who had been dead about three years, had 
left her with two children and a large fortune. Wash- 
ington seemed to be, at first sight, deeply impressed 
with her surpassing loveliness and her social and 
mental attractions. The dinner hour rapidly passed. 
The horses, according to appointment, were at the 
door. But Washington decided to remain until the 
next morning. The afternoon and evening passed 
rapidly away, and at an early hour the ensuing day 
Washington was again in the saddle, endeavoring to 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 121 

make up for lost time as he urged his steed toward 
Williamsburg. 

The beautiful and opulent widow had many sui- 
tors. The somewhat stately mansion, reared upon 
her large estate, was known as the White House. 
It was situated in New Kent county, not far from 
Williamsburg. Washington, apprehensive that he 
might lose the prize, improved the brief time which 
remained to him, to the utmost. The result was 
that their mutual faith was soon plighted. The 
marriage was to take place as soon as the campaign 
against Fort Duquesne was at an end. 

Washington was continually urging upon the 
British officers the necessity of an immediate and 
vigorous advance. But these men, though winning 
the admiration of all by their bravery in the field, 
being generally the sons of the nobles, and accus- 
tomed to luxurious indulgence, deemed it necessary 
to make provisions for their comfort on the cam- 
paign, which, to the hardy Americans, seemed quite 
preposterous. The troops became daily more rest- 
less and demoralized by the temptations of an idle 
camp. The Indians, quite disgusted, in a body 
retired. 

At length Washington, to hia great relief, re- 
ceived orders to repair to Fort Cumberland. He 
reached that frontier fort on the 2d of July, and im- 
6 



122 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

mediately commenced cutting a road through the 
forest, a distance of thirty miles, to Raystown, where 
Colonel Bouquet was stationed. Scouting parties 
of Indians were ranging the woods, firing upon the 
workmen, and upon the expresses passing between 
the posts, and worrying the laborers in every possible 
way. Washington succeeded in engaging the ser- 
vices of a band of Cherokee warriors, whom he sent 
out in counter parties against the hostile Indians. 
Colonel Bouquet thought that no one but an Ameri- 
can could be guilty of the folly of imagining that 
Cherokee warriors could, in any emergence, be equal 
to British regulars. He insisted that each party 
should be accompanied by an EngHsh officer and 
a number of English soldiers. Washington was 
annoyed by the encumbrance, but was obliged to 
yield. He said : 

'' Small parties of Indians will more effectually 
harass the enemy, by keeping them under continual 
alarms, than any parties of white men can do. For 
small parties of the latter are not equal to the task, 
not being so dexterous at skulking as the Indians. 
And large parties will be discovered by their spies 
early enough to have a superior force opposed to 
them."* 

While affairs were moving thus slowly, Washing- 

* living's " Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 230. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 23 

ton was quite enthusiastically chosen, by the electors 
of Frederick county, as their representative to the 
House of Burgesses. On the 21st of July, tidings 
arrived of the capture of Louisbourg, and the island 
of Cape Breton, by the English. This increased the 
impatience of Washington to be on the move. The 
rumor reached him that Colonel Bouquet intended 
to send a body of eight hundred troops in advance 
toward the fort. He immediately wrote to the 
Colonel, entreating that his command might be 
included in the detachment. 

" If any argument, said he, *' is needed, to obtain 
this favor, I hope, without- vanity, I may be allowed 
to say, that from long intimacy with these woods, 
and frequent scoutings in them, my men are at least 
as well acquainted with all the passes and difficulties 
&s any troops that will be employed." 

Notwithstanding the remonstrances of Washing- 
ton, and the indignation of the Virginia Assembly. 
Colonel Bouquet persisted in his plan of cutting a 
new road over the mountains, to Fort Duquesne. 
Sixteen hundred men were sent forward, from Rays- 
town, to engage in the work. Thus July and August 
passed away; Washington was still encamped at 
Fort Cumberland, in the extreme of impatience, 
with nothing to do. He learned, by his spies, that 
on the 13th of August there were but eight hundred 



124 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

men, Indians included, at Fort Duquesne. There 
can be no question, that had Washington's counsels 
been followed, the fort would, by that time, have 
been in the hands of the British. 

In September, Washington received orders to 
repair, with his troops, to Raystown, where he was 
to join Colonel Forbes. It was the middle of the 
month. And yet, with incredible toil the new 
military road had been opened but about forty-five 
miles, where a fort of deposit was built, called Loyal 
Hannan, a short distance beyond Laurel Hill, a dis- 
tance of fifty miles, through the wilderness, was still 
to be traversed. 

Colonel Bouquet, who commanded two thousand 
men there, sent forward about eight hundred men, 
under Major Grant, to reconnoitre. The Major was 
a boastful, conceited bravado. A part of his force 
consisted of Highlanders, and another part of 
Americans, under Major Andrew Lewis. They 
were all brave men. Grant was not aware that 
Indian scouts w^re watching every step of his 
advance. The farther they could draw him from 
the main body, the more easy and signal would be 
their victory. Supposing that he had approached 
the fort unperceived. Major Grant decided to make 
a sudden attack, thinking to take it by surprise, and 
thus to win great glory. Major Lewis thought the 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 25 

attempt very imprudent. There was certainly 
danger of failure. The failure might prove exceed- 
ingly disastrous. Whereas, by obeying orders, and 
waiting for the main body of troops to come up, the 
fort could certainly be taken, and probably with but 
very little, if any, bloodshed. With characteristic 
contemptuousness Major Grant replied : 

" You and your Americans may remain behind, 
with the baggage. I will go forward, with the 
British regulars, and show you how a fort can be 
taken." 

He then placed Major Lewis in the rear, with 
the American troops, to protect the baggage. With 
martial music and unfurled banners, as if in proud 
challenge of the garrison, he marched his troops to 
an eminence, near the fort, where he encamped for 
the night. There was no movement in the fort. 
Not a gun was fired. ' Not a voice was heard. 
Nearly two thousand Indians were encamped near 
by, waiting to cooperate with a sally from the fort 
the next morning. 

The morning came. With its early dawn there 
was opened one of those awful scenes of tumult, 
blood, and woe, which have so often disfigured this 
sad world. The sally from the garrison attacked in 
front. The Indians in ambush, with hideous yells, 
opened fire upon the flanks. The scenes of Brad- 



126 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

dock's defeat were renewed. The British officers, 
with coolness and courage which could not be sur- 
passed, endeavored to rally their men according to 
European tactics, which was the most foolish thing 
they could possibly do. The soldiers were thus 
presented to the foe, in such a concentrated mass, 
that every bullet of the savages accomplished its 
mission. 

The British regulars, for a little time, held their 
ground bravely, though almost deafened by the yells 
of two thousand savages, and assailed by perhaps as 
terrific a storm of leaden hail as soldiers ever en- 
countered. But no mortal courage could long with- 
stand this merciless slaughter. Panic ensued, and a 
tumultuous flight. Major Lewis, leaving Captain 
Bullit with fifty men to guard the buggage, hurried 
forward, \Yith the remainder of the Virginia troops, 
to the scene of action. The ground was covered 
with the dead and wounded, and the English utter- 
ly routed, were in frantic flight. The yells of two 
thousand Indians, in hot pursuit, blended into one 
demoniac scream. 

Lewis was surrounded and captured. A French 
officer came to his rescue, and saved him from the 
tomahawk. Major Grant was likewise captured, and 
his life was saved by a French officer. Captain 
Bullit endeavored to make a forlorn stand, by form- 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 12/ 

ing a barricade with the baggage wagons. It was 
the work of a moment. The fugitives rallied behind 
it. Every man could see that escape, by flight, pur- 
sued by two thousand fleet-footed savages, was im- 
possible. Concealed behind this bulwark, as the 
savages drew near, a deadly fire, by a concerted sig- 
nal, was simultaneously opened upon them. This 
held the savages in check for a little time, but it mani- 
festly could not be for long. We regret to add that 
the brave Captain Bullit then resorted to a strata- 
gem, which, had it been adopted by the Indians, 
would have been denounced as the vilest perfidy. 
We give the occurrence, in the mild, and certainly 
not condemnatory language, of Washington Irving. 

" They were checked for a time, but were again 
pressing forward in greater numbers, when Bullit 
and his men held out the signal of capitulation, and 
advanced, as if to surrender. * When within eight 
yards of the enemy, they suddenly levelled their 
arms, poured a most effectual volley, and then 
charged with the bayonet. The Indians fled in dis- 
may, and Bullit took advantage of this che,ck to 
retreat, with all speed, collecting the wounded and 
scattered fugitives as he advanced." ^ 

The routed detachment, in broken bands, after 
the endurance of terrible sufferings, reached the 

* living's "Life of Washington," vol. i. p. 94. 



128 GEORGE WASHIN-GTON. 

Fort, Loyal Hannan. Here we are informed, by Mr. 
Irving, that Bullit's behavior was " a matter of great 
admiration.'' He was soon after rewarded with a 
major's commission.* 

In this disastrous campaign, fraught with woe to 
so many once happy homes, twenty-one officers and 
two hundred and seventy-three privates were either 
killed or taken captive. There was something in the 
dignity, thoughtfulness, and heroism of Washington's 
character which caused, notwithstanding the inces- 
sant attacks to which he was exposed, his reputation 
to be continually on the advance. The weary weeks 
still lingered slowly away, and but little was accom- 
plished. The Indians were ravaging the frontiers, 
almost unopposed. Life had become a burden in 
hundreds of woe-stricken homes. In many a lonely 
log-cabin, the widowed mother gathered her orphan 
children aronnd her, and in terror awaited the war- 
whoop of the savage. Washington was given the 
command of a detatchment of American troops to 
do what he could for the protection of these homes 
where anguish dwelt. 

If there be pestilence, famine, earthquake, God is 

* Washington, commenting upon this movement of Major Grant, 
writes : " From all accounts I can collect, it appears very clear that 
this was a very ill-concerted, or a very ill-executed plan. Perhaps both. 
But it seems to be very generally acknowledged that Major Grant 
exceeded his orders." — Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 2S6. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 29 

responsible for the consequences ; for He sends the 
scourge. But for these woes, these terrific woes, 
caused simply by ambitious warfare between the 
courts of England and France, God is not responsi- 
ble. They were the work of man. The responsi- 
bility rests upon human hearts. Who will be held, 
by God, accountable for them in the day of judg- 
ment ? There are some persons who must have 
cause to tremble. 

It was not until the 5th of November, that the 
whole army was assembled at Lo3^al Hannan. Dreary 
winter was at hand. Snow capped the summits, and 
ice filled the gorges of the mountains. Freezing 
blasts moaned through the forests and swept the 
plains. Fifty miles of rugged mountain ranges were 
to be traversed, through which no road had yet been 
opened. The march was commenced, without tents 
or baggage, and with but a light train of artillery, in 
consequence of the ruggedness of the way. 

Washington was in the advance. His route led 
along the path by which the fugitives of Grant's 
army had retreated. It was a melancholy march. 
The road presented continued traces of the awful 
defeat. It was strewed with human bones, picked 
clean by the wolves. These were the remains of 
beloved sons, husbands, fathers. Some had been cut 
down and scalped by the Indians. Some had thrown 
6* 



I30 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

themselves on the ground, to die alone of exhaustion 
and hunger. Their panic-stricken companions could 
not remain, in their desperate flight, to nurse the 
sick or to bury the dead. 

As the troops drew near Fort Duquesne the more 
numerous these mementoes of the awful past 
appeared. Washington advanced with the greatest 
caution, until he arrived within sight of the fort. He 
had anticipated a vigorous defence. But the signal 
successes of the British armies in Canada had pre- 
vented any reinforcement or supplies from being sent 
to Fort Duquesne. The intelligent officers saw, con- 
sequently, that they were in no condition to repel 
the very formidable army which Great Britain was 
marching against them. 

The commandant had but five hundred men, and 
his provisions were nearly exhausted. As soon as 
the English army was within one day's march of the 
fort, he at night embarked his troops, and nearly all 
the valuable material of the fortress, in several large 
flat-bottomed boats, blew up the magazine, reduced 
all the works to ashes, and, leaving but blackened 
ruins behind him, drifted down the rapid current of 
the Ohio. 

In the chill and the gloom of the 25th of Novem- 
ber, the English army reached the confluence of the 
Alleghany and the Monongahela rivers. There was 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 131 

neither fort, village, cabin, or wigwam there. Not an 
Indian or a Frenchman was to be seen. Not a gun, 
not a cartridge, not a particle of food was left behind. 
The grand eminences rose sublimely, as now. The 
two tranquil streams flowed rapidly along, as if eager 
to unite in forming La Belle Riviere. The pri- 
meval forest, in almost awful grandeur, covered hill 
and valley as far as the eye could extend. Silence 
and soHtude reigned supreme. The French were 
dr-iven out the valley, and the British flag was tri- 
umphantly unfurled. 

Vigorous measures were adopted to erect another 
fort. It was called Fort Pitt, in honor of England's 
illustrious minister. The domination of the French, 
in the valley of the Ohio, was at an end. The In- 
dians promptly gave in their adhesion to the con- 
quering power, entered into alliances with the English, 
and, for a short time, allowed peace to exist in that 
beautiful valley, which God apparently intended as 
one of the fairest gardens of our world. 

Washington, with somewhat accumulated fame, 
returned to Virginia. On the 6th of January his mar- 
riage union with Mrs. Custis took place, at the White 
House, the attractive residence of the wealthy bride. 
A numerous assemblage of the distinguished gentle- 
men and ladies of the land graced the festive scene.* 

* An old negro servant of the household of Mrs. Custis gave the 



132 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Washington remained for three months, a happy 
man, with his bride at the White House. He then 
repaired to WiUiamsburg, to take his seat as repre- 
sentative in the House of Burgesses.''^ His prospects 
for a happy hfe were brilliant indeed. From his own 
family he had inherited a large fortune. His mental 
and personal attractions were extraordinary. His 
fame was enviable. Mr. Custis, the first husband of 
his wife, had left, in addition to a very large landed 
estate, money, well invested, amounting to two hun- 
dred and twenty-five thousand dollars. One-third 
of this fell to his widow in her own right. T»wo- 
thirds were inherited equally by her two children : 
a son of six years, and a daughter of four. Wash- 
ington's bride was, in all respects, everything his 
heart could wish. The two children were intelligent, 
amiable, and lovely in a high degree. 

At the close of the session of the Assembly, he 
conducted his happy family to his favorite abode of 

following account of the impression Washington produced upon the 
family : 

" Never seed the like, sir — never the like of him, though I have 
seen many in my day — so tall, so straight ! And then, sir, he sat on 
a horse and rode with such an air! Ah, sir, he was like no one else I 
Many of the grandest gentlemen, in the gold lace, were at the wed- 
ding; but none looked like the man himself.'.' — Soldier and Pab'iot, p, 58. 

* William Wirt, in his Life of Patrick Henry, has assigned to this 
date, the enthusiastic reception of Washington by the Assembly. 
Others, as we think more correctly, have given it the date to which 
we have assigned it in this volume. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 33 

Mount Vernon. In those blessed days of peace and 
domestic joy he wrote to a friend.* 

" I am now, I beHeve, fixed in this seat, with an 
agreeable partner for life ; and I hope to find more 
happiness in retirement than I ever experienced in 
the wide and bustling world." 

Most of our readers are familiar with the home 
of Washington, as it has been presented to them in 
the many engravings which have found their way to 
almost every fireside. The mansion, very spacious 
on the ground floor, was architecturally quite pleas- 
ing. It stood upon a smooth, green, velvety lawn, 
spreading several hundred feet down to the river 
which washed its eastern base. The prospect it com- 
manded was magnificent. The eminence, in the rear, 
w^as crowned with the stately forest. The spacious 
estate, of two thousand five hundred acres, was di- 
vided into many highly cultivated farms. Much of 
the region was still covered with the forest, which 
the axe of the settler had never disturbed. Game of 
every variety abounded on the hills, and in the 

* To a nephew, who was entering the Assembly for the first time, 
he wrote, " The only advice I will offer, if you have a mind to com- 
mand the attention of the House, is to speak seldom, but on important 
subjects, except such as particularly relate to your constituents ; and, 
in the former case make yourself perfectly master of the subject. Never 
exceed a decent warmth, and submit your sentiments with diffidence. 
A dictatorial style, though it may carry conviction, is always accom- 
panied with disgust." — Sparks' Life of Washington^ p. loi. 



134 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

meadows and streamlets. A nobler hunting ground 
could perhaps nowhere be found. Washington, 
when but a stripling, had often ranged its vast ex- 
panse, where dees, foxes, and rabbits had found their 
favorite haunts; and where water-fowl floated, often 
in countless numbers, upon the creeks and lakelets. 
In one of Washington's letters he writes enthusiasti- 
cally, and yet truly : 

*' No estate in United America is more pleasantly 
situated. In a high and healthy country ; in a lati- 
tude between the extremes of heat and cold ; on one 
of the finest rivers in the world — a river well stocked 
with various kinds of fish at all seasons of the year, 
and, in the spring with shad, herring, bass, carp, 
sturgeon, etc., in great abundance. The borders of 
the estate are washed by more than ten miles of tide 
water. Several valuable fisheries appertain to it. 
The whole shore, in fact, is one entire fishery." 

Washington was, from his natural disposition, 
and also from the teachings of his mother, a devout 
man. The society in the midst of which he was 
born, and by which he was from childhood sur- 
rounded, was aristocratic in all its habits and tastes. 
Most of the wealthy planters were connected with 
the aristocratic famihes of England. They had 
brought over large sums of money, purchased ex- 
tensive estates and were living in a style of 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 35 

Splendor and of profuse hospitality unknown in any 
of the other colonies. 

The governors, in particular, being appointed by 
the crown and who were generally men of wealth and 
high birth, endeavored to form their establishments 
on the pattern of miniature royalty. The Episcopal 
church, or' church of England, was altogether pre- 
dominant throughout the Dominion. Many of these 
haughty men maintained it merely as an essential 
part of the political organization of the British 
government. But Washington was a religious man 
in heart and in life. He was vestryman'^ of two 
parishes : Fairfax and Truro. 

The parochial church of Fairfax was at Alex- 
andria, ten miles from Mount Vernon. The church 
of the Truro parish was at Pohick, about seven miles 
distant. Washington had presented the plan of the 
latter church, and had built it almost at his own ex- 
pense. He attended one or the other of these 
churches w^en the weather and the state of the roads 
would permit. He and Mrs. Washington were both 
communicants. 

Notwithstanding the rapid increse of wealth and 
splendor in our land, the style of living, which pre- 
vailed among these opulent families in Virginia, has 

" Vestryman — Episcopal church ; one belonging to a select number 
of persons, in each parish, who manage its temporal concerns." 
— Webster. 



136 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

long ago faded away. Massive side-boards were 
generally, seen covered with glittering plate. The 
burglar was not feared in these large households. 
Superb carriages, drawn often by four blooded 
horses, all imported from England, conveyed the 
richly dressed families, through the forest roads, 
from mansion to mansion in their stately calls. 

Washington had his chariot and four.* His 
black postilions, chosen for their manly beauty, were 
richly clad in livery. When he accompanied Lady 
Washington in any one of her drives, he, a splendid 
horseman, almost invariably appeared mounted, and 
their equipage would often surpass that of the minor 
dukes and princes of Europe. 

Mr. Irving writes : *' A large Virginia estate, in 
those days, v/as a little empire. The mansion-house 
was a seat of government, with its numerous depen- 
dencies, such as kitchens,' smoke-house, workshops 
and stables. In this mansion the master ruled 
supreme ; his steward, or overseer, was prime min- 
ister and executive officer. He had his legion of 
house negroes for domestic service, and his host of 

* " Plis stable was well filled, and admii-ably regulated. His stud 
was thorough-bred and in excellent order. His household books con- 
tained registers of the names, ages, and marks of his favorite horses ; 
such as Ajax, Blueskin, Valiant, Magnolia (an Arab), etc. Also his 
dogs, chiefly fox-hounds, Vulcan, Singer, Ringwood, Sweet-lips, 
Forester, Music, Rockwood, and Truelove." — Irving's Life of Wash- 
ington, vol. i. p. 314. 



WARRIOR, STATESMAN, AND PLANTER. 1 37 

field negroes for the culture of tobacco, Indian corn, 
and other crops, and for other out-door labor. 

" Their quarters formed a kind of hamlet, com- 
posed of various huts, with little gardens and poultry- 
yards, all well stocked ; and swarms of little negroes 
gambolling in the sunshine. Then there were large 
wooden edifices for curing tobacco, the staple and 
most profitable production, and mills for grinding 
wheat and Indian corn, of which large fields were 
cultivated for the supply of the family, and the 
maintenance of the negroes. 

Among the slaves were artificers of all kinds : 
tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, smiths, wheelwrights, 
and so forth. So that a plantation produced every- 
thing within itself for ordinary use. As to articles 
of fashion and elegance, and expensive clothing, they 
were imported from London ; for the planters on the 
main rivers, especially the Potomac, carried on an 
immediate trade with England. Their tobacco was 
put up by their own negroes, bore their own marks, 
was shipped on board of vessels which came up the 
rivers for the purpose, and consigned to some agent 
in Liverpool or Bristol with whom the planter kept 
an account." * 

* living's " Life of Washington,'* vol. i. p. 315, 



CHAPTER V. 

The Gathering Storm of War, 

Life among the Planters — The Dismal Swamp — The peace of Fon- 
tainebleau — ^Arrogance of the British — The Stamp Act — Speech 
of Patrick Henry. — The First Congress — Testimony of Franklin 
— Views of Washington — Splendor of Display — Insolence of the 
Soldiery — The Boston Massacre — The Expedition to the Ohio — 
Events of the Journey — The Romance of Travel in the Wilder- 
ness. 

Many of the Virginia planters were devoted to 
pleasure alone. They lived high, gambled, hunted, 
and left the management of their estates very much 
to overseers. Washington was a model planter. He 
carried into the administration of his estate all the 
sagacity, integrity, punctuality, and industry, which 
had thus far characterized him in public affairs. He 
was his own book-keeper, and his accounts were kept 
with methodical exactness. His integrity was such, 
that it is said that any barrel of flour, which bore 
his brand, was exempted in the West India ports 
from the ordinary inspection.* 

He was very simple in his domestic habits, rising 

* Speech at laying the corner stone of the Washington Monument, 
by Robert C. Winthrop. 



THE GATHERING .STORM OF WAR. 1 39 

often, in midwinter, at five o'clock. He kindled his 
own fire, and read or wrote, by candle-light, until 
seven o'clock when he breakfasted very frugally. His 
ordinary breakfast was two small cups of tea, and 
three or four cakes of Indian meal, called hoe-cakes. 
After breakfast he mounted one of his superb horses, 
and in simple attire, but which set off to great ad- 
vantage his majestic frame, visited all those parts of 
the extended estate, where any work was in progress. 
Everything was subjected to his careful supervision. 
At times he dismounted, and even lent a helping 
hand in furtherance of the operations which were 
going on. He dined at two o'clock, and retired to his 
chamber about nine in the evening.* 

He was kind in word and deed to his negro slaves, 
and while careful that they should not be overtasked, 
was equally careful that they should not be permitted 
to loiter away their time in idleness. The servants 
were proud of their stately, dignified, wealthy master, 
and looked up to him with reverence amounting 
almost to religious homage. Washington was very 
fond of the chase. Often, when riding to a distant 
part of the estate, he would take some of the hounds 

* " My manner of life," Washington wrote to a friend, " is plain ; 
and I do not mean to be put out of it. A glass of wine and a bit of 
mutton are always ready, and such as will be content to partake of 
them, are always welcome. Those who expect more will be disap- 
pointed." — Soldier and Patriot, p. 62. 



140 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

with him, from the hope that he might start up a 
fox. There was not perhaps, in all Virginia, a better 
horseman, or a more bold rider. The habits and 
tastes of the old English nobility and gentry pre- 
vailed in Virginia to an extraordinary degree. The 
passion for following the hounds was thoroughly 
transplanted from the broad estates of the English 
land-holders to the vast realms which nature had 
reared and embellished on the banks of the Potomac, 
and amid the ridges of the Alleghanies. 

Mount Vernon was always crowded with guests. 
Even the most profuse hospitality was no burden to 
the princely proprietor. Frequently, in the season, 
Washington would three times a week engage in 
these hunting excursions with his guests. He could 
mount them all superbly from his own stables. The 
Fairfaxes were constant companions on these festive 
occasions. These opulent and high-bred gentlemen 
would often breakfast at one mansion, and dine at 
another. It is said that Washington, notwithstand- 
ing his natural stateliness of character, greatly 
enjoyed these convivial repasts. 

Washington was, however, by no means engrossed 
in these pleasures in which he sought frequent recre- 
ation. The care of his vast estates demanded much 
of his time. His superior abilities and his established 
integrity led him to be in demand for public services, 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 141 

He was appointed Judge of the County Court, and 
being a member of the House of Burgesses, was fre- 
quently called from home by public duties. What- 
ever trust Washington assumed, was discharged with 
the utmost fidelity. The diary which he carefully 
kept was headed with the words, " Where and How 
my Time is Spent."* 

The great Dismal Swamp, that vast, gloomy 
morass, thirty miles long and ten miles wide, had 
then been but very partially explored. Washington, 
with several other gentlemen of enterprise in his 
vicinity,. formed a project to drain it. Imagination 
can hardly conceive of a more gloomy region. A 
dense, luxuriant forest, of cedar, cypress, hemlock, 
and other evergreen and deciduous trees, sprang 
up from the spongy soil. Many portions of this truly 
dismal realm were almost impenetrable, from the 
density of thickets and interlacing vines. Stagnant 
creeks and pools, some of which were almost lakes, 
nvere frequently interspersed. It was the favorite 
haunt of venomous reptiles, and birds and animals 
of ill omen. 

Washington undertook to explore this revolting 
region. There were portions of the quaking bog over 

* " Washington was fond of hunting, and sport of all kinds. He 
kept a beautiful barge pn the Potomac, rowed by six negroes in uni- 
form dress." — Soldier and Patriot^ p. 61. 



142 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

which he could ride on horseback. But often he had 
to dismount and carefully lead his horse from mound 
to mound. In the centre of the morass he found a 
large sheet of water, six miles long and three broad. 
It is appropriately called the Lake of the Dismal 
Swamp. Upon the banks of this lake there was 
some firm land. Here Washington encamped on 
the first night of his exploration. As the result of 
this survey a company was chartered, under the title 
of the Dismal Swamp Company. Through the 
efficiency of this company great improvements were 
made in this once desolate region. 

In the spring of 1763, the peace of Fontainebleau 
was signed ; and the two great kingdoms of England 
and France sheathed their swords. During the con- 
flict, the British government, through the arrogance 
and haughty assumptions of its officers, had become 
increasingly unpopular. The British had driven the 
French from the continent. They had been accus- 
tomed to treat the Americans, officers and privates,'' 
as contemptuously as they had treated the Indians. 
A man born in America was deemed of an inferior 
grade to one born in England. This spirit, which 
met the Americans at every turn, was rapidly sever- 
ing the ties of kindly feeling which had bound the 
emigrants to the mother country. 

It was a constant endeavor of the British govern- 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 43 

ment to impose taxes upon the Americans, while 
refusing them the right of any representation in 
parliament. From the earliest period, when such a 
measure was attempted, the colonists had, with 
great determination, remonstrated against it. We 
cannot enter into the detail of the attempts made to 
impose taxes, and the nature of the resistance pre- 
sented. At one time the colonists resolved not to 
purchase British fabrics, but to clothe themselves in 
home manufactures. This, in Boston alone, cut off 
the sale of British goods to the amount of more than 
fifty thousand dollars in a single year. 

The question was discussed in parliament,. in the 
year 1764, George Grenville being prime minister; 
and it was voted that England had a right to tax 
America. There were, however, many Englishmen 
who were opposed to. the wrong, and who vehe- 
mently denounced it. In accordance with this vote 
the Stamp Act was passed. By this act, no legal 
instrument was binding, unless written upon paper 
stamped by the British government, and purchased 
of their agents. 

It is a little remarkable that aristocratic Vir- 
ginia was the first effectually to rise, in a burst of 
indignation, against this decree. Thus far it had 
been strong in its devotion to the British crown, 
church, and constitution. Washington was then a 



144 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

member of the Virginia House of Burgesses. Pat- 
rick Henry, one of the most renowned of the early 
patriots, presented the celebrated resolution, that 
" The General Assembly of Virginia has the ex- 
clusive right and power to lay taxes and impositions 
upon the inhabitants ; and that whoever maintained 
the contrary should be deemed an enemy to the 
colony." * 

It was in the speech of great eloquence which he 
made upon this ocasion, that he uttered the sen- 
tence which became world renowned : 

" Caesar had his Brutus ; Charles his Cromwell ; and 
George the Third " — " Treason ; treason," shouted 
several emissaries of the crown. Patrick Henry, bow- 
ing to the chairman, added, with great emphasis, 
" may profit by their example. Sir ; if this be trea- 
son, make the most of it." 

The storm was gathering. Washington foresaw 
it. With gloomy forebodings he returned to Mount 
Vernon. He wrote to Francis Dandridge, his wife's 
uncle, then in London : 

'' The Stamp Act engrosses the conversation of 
the speculative part of the colonists, who look upon 
this unconstitutional method of taxation as a direful 

* Though the first burst of opposition to the Stamp Act came 
from Virginia, the New Englanders were the first to take the field 
against the whole project of Parliamentary taxation. — See Irving's 
Washington, Mount Vernon edition, vol i. p. Iio. 



I 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. I45 

attack upon their liberties, and loudly exclaim 
as^ainst the violation." 

The alarming posture of affairs led the General 
Court, or Assembly of Massachusetts, to invite a Con- 
gress to meet, of delegates from the several colonies. 
The meeting vv^as held in New York, in October, 
1765. There were delegates representing Mas- 
sachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, 
New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, and 
South Carolina. 

With great unanimity they denounced the acts 
of parliament imposing taxes without their con- 
sent, and som.e other measures, as violations of their 
rights and liberties. An address, in accordance with 
these resolves, was sent to the king, and petitions to 
both houses of parhament. In Boston, the stamp 
distributor was hung in effigy, and the stamps were 
seized and burned. Similar demonstrations were 
made in several other places. In Virginia, Mr. 
George Mercer was appointed distributor. On his 
arrival at Williamsburg he decHned the office. The 
bells were rung, the town illuminated, and Mercei' 
was greeted with acclaim. 

The 1st of November, 1765, was the appointed day 

for the Stamp Act to go into operation. In many 

of the colonies the day was ushered in with funereal 

solemnities. The shops were closed, bells were tolled, 

7 



146 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

flags were at half-mast, and many of the promoters 
of the act were burned in effigy. In New York, a 
copy of the act was paraded through the streets, in 
large letters on a pole, surmounted by a death's head, 
with an inscription beneath : 

*^ The Folly of England and the Ruin of America." 

Innumerable were the scenes of popular reproba- 
tion and violence which the obnoxious measure 
brought forth. The merchants of the great com- 
mercial marts of Boston, New York, and Philadel- 
phia, mutually pledged themselves not to purchase 
any goods of British manufacture, until the act was 
repealed. 

Washington took no active part in these demon- 
strations. All his associations allied him with the 
aristocracy. The native dignity and reserve of his 
character rendered it difficult for him to throw him- 
self into the turbid current of popular indignation. 
He was constitutionally cautious, being careful never 
to take a step which he might be compelled to re- 
trace. He remained quietly at Mount Vernon, ab- 
sorbed in the complicated cares of the large estates 
there subject to his control. 

The commotion so increased that the British gov- 
ernment became somewhat alarmed. Dr. Franklin 
was called before the House of Commons to be ex- 
amined on the subject. He was asked : 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. I47 

" What was the temper of America toward Great 
Britain before the year 1763 ? " 

The philosopher replied, in cahn, well ordered 
phrase, characteristic of the extraordinary man : 

'* The best in the world. They submitted will- 
ingly to the government of the crown. Numerous 
as the people are, in the several old provinces, they 
cost you nothing in forts, citadels^ garrisons, or armies 
to keep thern in subjection. They were governed, 
by this country, at the expense only of a little pen, 
ink, and paper. They had not only respect, but affec- 
tion for Great Britain, its laws, its customs and 
manners, and even a fondness for its fashions, that 
greatly increased the commerce. Natives of Great 
Britain were always treated with particular regard. 
To be an Old England man was, of itself, a char- 
acter of some respect, and gave a kind of rank 
among us." 

"And what is their temper now?" Franklin 
was asked. 

He replied, " Oh ! it is very much altered. If the 
Stamp Act is not repealed there will be a total loss 
of the respect and affection the people of America 
bear to England ; and there will be the total loss 
of the commerce which depends on that respect and 
affection." 

*' Do you think," the question was asked, '* that the 



148 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

people of America would consent to pay the tax if 
it were moderated ? " 

'' No," Franklin replied ; " never, unless compelled 
by force of arms." ^ 

These representations probably exerted very con- 
siderable influence. The act was repealed on the 
1 8th of March, 1766. Washington was in entire har- 
mony with the philosophic Franklin in his views upon 
this subject. To a friend he wrote : 

*' Had the Parliament of Great Britain resolved 
upon enforcing it, the consequences, I conceive, 
would have been more direful than is generally ap- 
prehended, both to the mother country and her col- 
onies. All therefore, who were instrumental in se- 
curing the repeal, are entitled to the thanks of every 
British subject, and have mine cordially." f 

The Americans were struggling for the estab- 
lishment of a principle which they deemed vital to 
their liberties. The petty pecuniary sum involved in 
that one case was of but little moment. The repeal 
of the act was attended with the obnoxious and in- 
sulting declaration that the king and parliament 
" had the right to bind the people of America in all 
cases whatever." 

In correspondence with this assumption, a tax 

* "Parliamentary Register," 1776. 

f "Writings of Washington," Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p^ 345, note. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 49 

was speedily imposed on tea, glass, and sundry other 
articles. Troops were also sent out to hold the 
Americans in subjection, and the colonies were or- 
dered to pay for their support. Two regiments of 
British regulars were sent to Boston. This was in- 
deed shaking the rod over the heads of the people. 
A town meeting was called. It was resolved that the 
king had no right to quarter troops upon the citizens, 
without their consent. The selectmen refused to 
provide lodgings for them.. 

Most of the troops were encamped on the com- 
mon, while the governor, as agent of the crown, con- 
verted the State House and Faneuil Hall into bar- 
racks for others. The indignation of the people was 
at the boiling point. To overawe them, cannon, 
charged with grape-shot, were planted, to sweep the 
approaches to the State House and Faneuil Hall, 
and sentinels, with loaded muskets and fixed bay- 
onets, challenged all who passed. 

These regiments paraded the quiet streets of 
puritanic Boston with their banners and glittering 
weapons, and the martial music of bugles, drum and 
fifes was heard, even on the Sabbath, and every note 
fell upon the ears of the people like an insult and 
defiance. Washington, in his beautiful retreat at 
Mount Vernon, was steadfastly and anxiously watch- 
ing all these proceedings. His feelings, in reference 



150 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

to the conduct of the British government, were very 
frankly expressed in the following letter to a friend, 
George Mason.* 

''At a time when our lordly masters in Great 
Britain will be satisfied with nothing less than the 
deprivation of American freedom, it seems highly 
necessary that something should be done to avert 
the stroke, and maintain the liberty which we have 
derived from our ancestors. But the manner of do- 
ing it, to answer the purpose effectually, is the point 
in question. That no man should scruple or hesitate 
a moment, in defence of so valuable a blessing, is 
clearly my opinion. Yet arms should be the last re- 
source. We have already, it is said, proved the in- 
efficacy of addresses to the throne and remonstrances 
to Parliament. How far their attention to our rights 
and interests is to be awakened or alarmed, by starv- 
ing their trade and manufactures, remains to be tried." 

Washington clearly foresaw how terrible the sac- 
rifice which he and his opulent associates must make, 
in entering into a conflict with the British govern- 
ment. He alluded to this in the following words: 

" I can see but one class of people, the merchants 
excepted, who will not, or ought not, to wish well to 

* " He had some few intimates in his neighborhood, who accorded 
with him in sentiment. One of the ablest and most efficient of these 
was Mr. George Mason, with whom he had occasional conversations 
on the state of affairs." — Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 341. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 151 

the scheme ; namely those who Hve genteelly and 
hospitably on clear estates. Such as these, were 
they not to consider the valuable object in view, and 
the good of others, might think it hard to be cur- 
tailed in their living and enjoyments." 

It required the highest patriotic heroism for these 
wealthy men to peril their earthly all in such a con- 
flict. An appeal to arms, followed by defeat, would 
inevitably lead to the confiscation of their estates, 
and to their execution upon the scaffold, as guilty 
of high treason. Mr. Mason nobly replied, in har- 
mony with the spirit of Washington : 

" Our all is at stake ; and the little conveniences 
and comforts of life, when set in competition with 
our liberty, ought to be rejected, not with reluctance 
but with pleasure. We may retrench all manner of 
superfluities, finery of all descriptions, and confine 
ourselves to linens, woollens, etc. It is amazing how 
much this practice, if adopted by all the colonies, 
would lessen the American imports, and distress the 
various trades and manufactures of Great Britain." 

The result of this correspondence was the draft, 
by Mr. Mason, of the plan of an association, each 
member of which was to pledge himself not to use 
any article of British merchandise upon which a duty 
was imposed. Washington was to submit this plan 
to the House of Burgesses, on its approaching session. 



152 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

A somewhat similar resolve had already been adopted 
by the people of Boston. 

The king had appointed Lord Botetourt"^ Gov- 
ernor of Virginia. It was the plan of the British 
court to crush the Puritans of Massachusetts by the 
gleam of bayonets and the rumbling of artillery. But 
the Cavaliers of Virginia were to be dazzled and se- 
duced by such a display of regal splendor as had never 
before been witnessed on this continent. It was sup- 
posed that the title of the noble lord would quite 
overawe the wealthy, splendor-loving plebeians of the 
Potomac. The king presented Lord Botetourt with 
a very magnificent coach of state, and also with a 
gorgeous dining service of solid silver.f When the 
governor reached Williamsburg, he surrounded his 
petty court with all the etiquette of royalty. He 
opened the session of the Assembly with the pomp 
of the monarch opening Parliament. His massive 
coach of state, polished like a mirror, and with the 
panels emblazoned with his lordship's family coat- 
of-arms, was drawn from his mansion to the capi- 

* Junius, in his celebrated letters, describes Botetourt as "a crin- 
ging, bowing, fawning, sword-bearing courtier." The witty Horace 
Walpole wrote of him, " If his graces do not captivate them (the 
Virginians), he will enrage them to fury ; for I take all his douceur to 
be enamelled on iron." — Grenville Papers^ vol. iv. p. 330, note. 

f The wits of London quite amused themselves in lampoons upon 
this extraordinary splendor of outfit, of " a minister plenipotentiary 
to the savage Cherokees." 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 53 

tol by six milk-white horses in the richest capari- 
sons. 

The poor negroes gazed upon the pageant, with 
mouths wide open with wonder, awe, and admiration. 
The bedizened lord, seated upon luxurious cushions, 
with his outriders, his brilliantly liveried coachman 
and footman, appeared to them but little less than 
an archangel from some higher sphere. But the 
pompous display was not in the least calculated to 
overawe George Washington, George Mason, and 
their gentlemanly associates, who well knew the 
value of human rights, and the worthlessness of 
tawdry splendor. 

The souls of these men were moved by stern re- 
sponsibilities pressing upon them. Several members 
presented spirited resolves denouncing the late acts of 
Parliament in imposing taxes. It was declared, em- 
phatically, that the power to impose taxes was vested 
in the House of Burgesses alone. Washington was 
prepared to submit the plan of agreement which Mr. 
Mason had drawn up. The plan was publicly can- 
vassed, and everywhere met with approval. An ad- 
dress was voted to the king, in which it was urged 
that all trials for treason, alleged to be committed in 
one of the colonies, should be tried before the courts 
of that colony. It was very clear that if any one, 
who had incurred the displeasure of the crown, 
7* 



154 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

should be dragged to London for trial, he would 
stand a very poor chance of acquittal. 

Lord Botetourt was astonished, by these bold 
declarations and demands. He promptly repaired 
to the capitol, authoritatively summoned the speaker 
and his council to his audience chamber, and said to 
them imperiously : 

" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of 
Burgesses, I have heard of your resolves, and augur 
ill of their effects. You have made it my duty to 
dissolve you ; and you are dissolved accordingly." 

The Burgesses, as the members of the colonial 
Assembly were called, unintimidated by this exercise 
of the royal prerogative, repaired, in a body, to a 
private house. They were no longer the House of 
Burgesses, but merely a collection of citizens. They 
chose for moderator their late speaker, Peyton Ran- 
dolph.* Washington then presented his draft of an 
association to discountenance the use of all British 
merchandise, taxed by Parliament to raise a revenue 
in America. It was signed by every member. Then, 
being printed, it was sent throughout the country, 
and to other colonies, and soon became almost uni- 
versally adopted. 

* Peyton Randolph was one of the most distinguished of the Vir- 
ginia patriots. He was attorney-general of the Province, and was 
subsequently elected President of the Second Colonial Congress. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 55 

The king and parliament were not alarmed ; 
they were only astonished to see that the helpless 
worm should have presumption thus to squirm 
beneath their gigantic tread. Lord Botetourt soon 
began to feel the influence of the society wfiich 
surrounded him. He found that the opulent, highly 
cultivated gentlemen of Virginia, were quite his 
equals ; that they were men who could not be daz- 
zled from their paths, by any display of ribbons and 
gilding and courtly pomp. 

Nay, more than this ; he soon began to feel the 
power of their superior intelligence. As he listened 
to their courteous and logical representations, he 
became convinced that their cause was a just one; 
that their grievances were many, and that he had 
entered upon his office, with entirely erroneous 
impressions respecting the true posture of affairs. 
His pompous equipage was laid aside. He reduced 
his establishment to the simplicity of that of a well 
bred gentleman. He even did not hesitate to 
declare that the taxes ought to be repealed^ and that 
sundry other reforms were called for. 

In Boston, a committee called upon the royal 
governor to state that the General Court could not de- 
liberate, with self-respect, when the State House was 
surrounded by soldiers, and cannon were pointed 
at its doors, and men-of-war were in the harbor, 



156 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

with their guns directed menacingly against the 
town. They requested therefore that the governor, 
as the representative of his majesty the king, would 
have such forces removed from Boston during the 
session of the court. 

The governor curtly replied, " I have no author- 
ity to order the removal of either ships or troops." 

The General Court responded firmly but respect- 
fully, '' The General Court cannot then undertake 
to transact any business, while thus menaced by 
cannon and muskets." 

The governor was embarrassed. There was busi- 
ness of pressing importance to come before the court. 
He endeavored to extricate himself by ordering the 
court to meet in Cambridge, beyond the reach of 
the guns of the fleet, and where there were no troops. 
The court met, and the governor immediately sent in a 
requisition for money to pay to British soldiers, and for 
quarters to be assigned for their board and lodging. 

The blood of the Puritan was as red and pure 
as that of his equally patriotic brother the CavaHer. 
After a solemn discussion, for it was a solemn 
moment, involving issues of fearful magnitude, these 
noble men returned an answer, in brief as follows. 

" The establishment of a standing army in this 
colony, in a time of peace, is an invasion of our 
natural rights." 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 5/ 

There was no offer to provide for these British 
regulars, and no refusal to do so, save what might be 
implied in the resolve. The governor again sent to 
know whether the Assembly would or would not 
make provision for the British troops. The decisive 
reply was returned that it was '' incompatible with 
their own honor and interest, and their duty to their 
constituents," to pay the expenses of British soldiers 
thus unconstitutionally billeted upon the American 
people. 

The governor, much annoyed, prorogued the 
Assembly, and ordered it to meet again in Boston, 
on the 1st of January, 1770. 

The '' Non-Importation Associations," as they were 
called, produced the effect, on British commerce, 
which the advocates of those measures "had antici- 
pated. The British merchants were in great trouble. 
They flooded Parliament with petitions that the taxes 
might be repealed, so that commerce might be 
restored. 

Lord North became prime minister. He was one 
of the most haughty of England's nobles, Vv'ith lim- 
ited capacity, but an obstinate will. He revoked 
all duties excepting that on tea. Thus he adhered 
to X}[i^ principle that England had a right to impose 
taxes upon America, without allowing the Americans 
any representation in Parliament. He distinctly 



158 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

announced that this single tax was continued, " to 
maintain the parHamentary right of taxation." It 
was fooHshly thought that, because the tax was only 
three-pence on the pound, the Americans would 
therefore consent to be betrayed into the establish- 
ment of the principle. 

There were many Englishmen in Parliament } 

whose sympathies were entirely with the Americans. i 



In strains of eloquence equal to any which have ever 
proceeded from human lips, they argued the cause 
of colonial rights. George III. was one of the most 
obstinate of men. Lord North was bound to obey 
his behests. He but gave utterance to the senti- 
ments of his royal master in saying : 

*' The properest time to exert our right of taxa- 
tion is when the right is refused. To temporize is 
to yield. The authority of the mother country, if it 
is now unsupported, will be relinquished forever. A 
total repeal cannot be thought of, till America is 
prostrate at our feet." * 

The British soldiers, established in Boston, were 
exceedingly obnoxious to the citizens, and bitter 
hostility soon sprung up between them. 

These veterans, inured to the cruelties of war, 
as, in their gay uniform they paraded the streets, 
with gleaming bayonets and loaded muskets, looked 

* Holmes' "American Annals," vol. ii. p. 173. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 59 

very contemptuously upon the towns-people, and 
often treated them with great insolence. 

One day there was some collision between a party 
of young Bostonians and a small band of soldiers. 
The unarmed young men were put to flight, and the 
soldiers pursued them. The alarm bells were rung. 
Excited crowds swept through the streets. The mob, 
armed with clubs and stones, assailed the troops 
fiercely. They defended themselves with bullets. 
Four of the populace were killed. Several others 
were wounded. The exasperation had now risen to 
such a pitch that the governor deemed it expedient 
to remove the troops from the town. Tidings of the 
** Boston Massacre" swept through all the colonies, 
and added additional fuel to the flame already so 
fiercely burning. 

Lord Botetourt found no friendly response to his 
representations at the British Court. He had been 
sent to Virginia to overawe the inhabitants, and to 
bring them into servile obedience to the British 
crown. He had thought that the same views of 
truth, which had influenced his mind, would exert a 
conciliatory influence upon the king and his cabinet. 
But he was bitterly disappointed. Opprobrium was 
his only reward. Desponding and enfeebled, he was 
attacked by a bihous fever and died. He had become 
endeared to the people by his noble espousal of their 



l6o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

cause. Washington testified that he was disposed 
'' to render every just and reasonable service to the 
people whom he governed." The House of Bur- 
gesses erected a statue to his memory, in the area of 
the capitol. 

The path of this world, as of all its nations and 
individuals, has ever been through darkness, clouds, 
and storms. While the tempest of national war, 
which was to doom our land to the most awful woes, 
was thus deepening its folds, Washington under- 
took another expedition, across the mountains, to the 
Ohio. He was influenced by public as well as private 
considerations. The State of Virginia had offered a 
bounty of two hundred thousand acres of land, to 
be divided among the officers and soldiers, who had 
served during the French war, according to their 
rank. Washington was one of the Virginia Board of 
Commissioners. There had been great neglect in 
settling these claims. The zeal of Washington was 
aroused that they should be promptly and fully paid. 

The treaties made with the Indians in those 
days, will seldom bear minute investigation. The 
purchasers were not careful to ascertain the validity, 
of the title of the chiefs, to the lands which they sold. 
And many of the chiefs were ready, for a suitable 
compensation, to sell all their right and title to lands 
to which they had no claim whatever. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. l6l 

There was a powerful confederacy of tribes living 
in the vicinity of the great northern lakes, called the 
Six Nations.* By a treaty, in 1768, these chiefs sold 
to the British crown all the land possessed by them 
south of the river Ohio. Speculators were rushing 
in. It was the object of Washington to visit these 
fertile acres, and affix his seal to such tracts as he 
might deem suitable to pay off the soldiers' claim. 

It was an enterprise fraught with considerable 
danger. There was no law in these vast wilds, which 
were ranged by Indians, and by white men still more 
savage in character. Several of the tribes in that 
region remonstrated against the sale. Among these 
were the powerful Delawares, Mingoes, and Shawnees. 
They said that the chiefs of the Six Nations had with- 
held from them their share of the consideration 
which was paid ; and that they were as legitimate 
owners of those vast hunting grounds as were any 
chiefs of the Six Nations. They therefore openly 
avowed their intention of exacting the deficiency, 
which they deemed due to them, from the white men 
who should attempt to settle on their hunting- 
grounds. Thus there had been several robberies and 
murders, perpetrated by no one knew who. White 
vacrabonds, dressed in Indian costume, could scarcely 

* These nations, or tribes, consisted of the Mohawks, the Oneidas, 
the Onondagas, the Senecas, the Ca},-ugas, and the Tuscaroras. — See 
Drake's Book of the ItidiauSf B. v. p. 2. 



l62 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

be distinguished from the Indians themselves. And 
lawless bands of savages, roving here and there, were 
the burglars and highway robbers of the wilderness, 
for whose outrages no tribe could be held respon- 
sible. 

Washington selected, for his companion, on this 
expedition, his very congenial friend and neighbor. 
Dr. Craik.* Washington took two of his negro 
servants to accompany him, and the doctor took one. 
Thus the party consisted of five persons. All were 
well mounted. A single led horse carried the bag- 
gage of the party. A journey of twelve days con- 
ducted them, through this unpeopled wilderness, to 
Fort Pitt, which, it will be remembered, had been 
reared on the ruins of Fort Duquesne. 

It was the 17th of October, 1770, when they 
reached the fort. It was garrisoned by two com- 
panies of Irishmen. Around the fort a little hamlet 
had sprung up, of about twenty log houses. It was 
called the town. These rude dwellings, in comfort 
but little above the wigwam of the savage, were 
occupied by a rough, coarse set of men, who had 
been lured into the wilderness to trade with the 
Indians. Such was the origin, scarcely one hundred 

* Dr. James Craik was a Scotchman by birth, and a very noble 
man. He accompained Washington in the unfortunate expedition 
rendered memorable by the disaster of Jumonville. Washington 
cherished, for him, a life-long friendship. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 63 

years ago, of the present beautiful city of Pittsburg, 
with its opulent, refined, and highly cultivated pop- 
ulation. 

One of these cabins they called a tavern. Nomi- 
nally, Washington and his companion took up their 
quarters there. But they were entertained within the 
fort with all the hospitality that frontier post could 
afford. Washington met, at the fort, Colonel George 
Crogan, a man of great renown in frontier adventures. 
He had reared his hut on the banks of the Alle- 
ghany river, about four miles above the fort. Wash- 
ington visited the colonel, at his spacious and well- 
guarded cabin. There he met several chiefs of the 
Six Nations. The fame of Washington had reached 
their ears. They greeted him fraternally, and assured 
him of their earnest desire to live in peace with the 
white men. 

Washington and his party, returning to Fort Pitt, 
left their horses there, and embarked in a large canoe 
to sail down the beautiful and placid Ohio, as far 
as the Great Kanawha. Colonel Crogan engaged 
two Indians attendants and an interpreter to accom- 
pany the party, as they floated down the sublime 
solitudes of this majestic stream. He also, with 
several other officers, descended the river with them 
in a canoe, about thirty miles, as far as the Indian 
village called Logstown. It will be remembered 



164 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

that Washington had held an interview with the 
Indian chiefs here on a former excursion.^ 

It was the lovely month of October. Nothing 
can be imagined more beautiful than the luxuriant 
banks of the Ohio, with their swelling mounds, 
crowned in their autumnal vesture. It was thjs 
favorite hunting season of the Indians. The river 
valley abounded with game. The roving Indians 
were alike at home everywhere. They had a taste 
for lovely scenery. In every cove their picturesque 
wigwams could be seen. They feasted abundantly 
upon the choicest viands the forest and river could 
afford. Often, at night, the picturesque scenery 
would be illumined, far and wide, by their camp fires, 
while the echoes of hill and valley were awakened 
by their boisterous revelry. 

Blessed peace reigned ; and our voyagers were 
cordially welcomed and hospitably entertained at all 
these encampments. As they drifted down the 
tranquil current, they found themselves in the para- 
dise of sportsmen. Herds of deer were browsing in 
the rich meadows, and unintimidated by the passage 
of the boats, were coming down to the waters edge 

" At that time (1770) there were no inhabitants on the Ohio, 
below Pittsburg, except the natives of the forest. A few traders had 
wandered into those regions, and land speculators had sent out emis- 
saries to explore the country ; but no permanent settlements had been 
formed." — Sparks' Z?/*? ^/ Washington, p. lii. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 65 

to drink. At times the whole surface of the stream 
seemed to be covered with water-fowl, of every 
variety of gay plumage. Flocks of ducks and geese, 
in their streaming flight were soaring through the 
air. These skilful sportsm.en, without landing, 
could fill their canoes with game. When night 
came, selecting some sheltered and attractive spot, 
they would land, erect their hut, imperious to wind 
and rain, spread their couch of rushes or fragrant 
hemlock boughs, build their fires, and, with appetites 
whetted by the adventures of the day, enjoy as rich 
a repast as earth can give. 

The banks of the Ohio are now fringed with 
magnificent hotels, and the stream is ploughed 
with steamers palatial grandeur. But probably no 
voyagers on that river now an find the enjoyment, 
which Washington experienced in his canoe, one 
hundred years ago. 

Washington had a spirit of romance in his nature 
which led him intensely to enjoy such scenes. And 
yet he was at the farthest remove from a mere 
pleasure-seeker. His journal shows that his mind 
was much engrossed with the great object of the 
expedition. He carefully examined the soil, the 
growth of timber, and the tracts of land most suitable 
for immediate settlement. 

At Logstown, Colonel Crogan, and the officers 



1 66 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

of the fort returned up the river, and left the ad- 
venturers to pursue their voyage into the sohtary 
realms beyond. About seventy-five miles below Fort 
Pitt they came to quite an important Indian vil- 
lage, called Mingotown. Here again, amid all these 
scenes of peace and beauty, where man might enjoy 
almost the bliss of Eden, they came to the sad evi- 
dences of our fallen race. The whole population was 
in turmoil. Sixty warriors, hideously painted and 
armed to the teeth, were just setting out on the 
warpath. 

Their savage natures were roused to the highest 
pitch of hatred against the Cherokees, for some real 
or imagined wrong. With demoniac rage they were 
going to rush upon some Cherokee village, at mid- 
night ; to apply the torch, to dash out the brains of 
women and children, to tomahawk the men ; and, 
having made such captives as they could, to bring 
them back to their villages, and there, burning them 
at the stake, to inflict upon them the most fiend-hke 
torture. 

It was also said that, about forty miles farther 
down the river, two white men had been recently 
killed. Who their murderers were was not known, 
or whether their object was plunder or revenge. 
This troubled state of affairs led Washington to hesi- 
tate whether to continue his voyage. He, however. 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 6/ 

decided to proceed, though with great circumspec- 
tion. Having arrived at the spot, at the mouth of 
Captema creek, where the murder were said to 
have taken place, he found a small Indian village, 
two women only being there, as the men were all 
absent hunting. Here he learned that rumor had, 
as usual, been exaggerating the facts. Two traders 
had attempted to cross the Ohio, on the backs of 
their horses, swimming them ; and one of them had 
been drowned. This was all. 

• The voyage of two additional days, through 
unbroken solitudes, brought the party to an Indian 
hunting camp, at the mouth of the Muskingum river. 
An illustrious chieftain resided here, by the name of 
Kiashuta. He was a sachem of the Senecas, and 
was considered head chief of the river tribes.^ 

Kiashuta was a renowned warrior. He had been 
one of the most energetic of the Indian chieftains in 
Pontiac's conspiracy for the extermination of the 
English. The chief instantly recognized Washing- 
ton. Seventeen years before, in 1753, he had formed 
one of the escort of the youthful Washington, across 

* The Muskingum is one of the largest rivers that runs wholly 
in the State of Ohio. It flows down, from its sources far away in the 
north, with a gentle current, over a pebbly bottom, and is navigable 
for large boats, for a distance of about one hundred miles. The 
beautiful city of Marietta now stands at its mouth, where the wigwam 
of the Indian only was seen at the time of Washington's visit. — 
M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. 



i 

168 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the wilderness country, to the French posts near 
Lake Erie. 

The chief received Washington with every dem- 
onstration of friendship, presented him with a quar- 
ter of a fine buffalo, just killed, aided him in estab- 
lishing his camp, and, at the camp fire, engaged in 
earnest conversation until near the dawn of the 
morning. He was a very intelligent man, of decided 
views as to Indian policy, and was well informed 
respecting the plans and measures of the English. 
As was the case with nearly all the chiefs, he was 
very anxious for peace with the white men. He 
expressed the earnest desire, to Washington, that 
friendly relations might continue to exist between 
them and the English, and that trade might be car- 
ried on between them upon equitable terms. Im- 
partial history must declare that the Indians seldom 
if ever commenced hostilities, unless goaded to do so 
by intolerable wrongs. 

Early the next morning the delightful voyage 
was resumed, beneath unclouded skies, through 
charming scenery, over a placid river, and in the 
enjoyment of as genial a clime as this earth can any- 
where afford. They reached the mouth of the 
Great Kanawha. Here, upon a spot on the southern, 
or Kentucky shore, appropriately called Point Pleas- 
ant, they encamped for several days to explore the 



THE GATHERING STORM OF WAR. 1 69 

solitudes of the grand realms spreading around 
them.* 

Washington describes the country as charming 
in the extreme. There were, in the vicinity, many 
beautiful lakelets of crystal water fringed with the 
grand forest in its autumnal vesture. Over these 
still waters, ducks, geese, and swans floated in num- 
bers which could not be counted. Their gambols and 
their joyous notes excited the mind with the most 
pleasurable emotions. Flocks of fat turkeys would 
scarcely step aside from the path of the hunter, 
while buffalo, deer, and other similar game, met the 
eye in great abundance. The larder of our voyagers 
was profusely stored, and among those back woods- 
men there were cooks who knew well how to find the 
tender cuts, and how to prepare them for their 
repasts with the most appetizing effect. 

* The Great Kanawha, after flowing through a garden-like region 
four hundred miles in extent, enters the Ohio about two hundred and 
fifty miles below Pittsburg. — M'Culloch's Geographical Dictionary. 

8 



CHAPTER VI. 
The Conflict Commenced, 

Death of Martha Custis — Parental Solicitude — Anti-Tea Combina- 
tion—The Boston Tea Party— The Port Bill— Policy of Lord 
Dunmore — Fashion at Williamsburg — The Virginia Aristocracy — 
Rank and Influence of Washington — The Assembly Dissolved — 
The First Congress — Political Views of the Fairfaxes — Interest- 
ing Correspondence — Scenes in Boston — Harmony in Congress — 
The Chaplain — Grief at Mount Vernon — The Battle of Lexing- 
ton — The Second Congress — The Army formed — Washington 
Commander-in-Chief. 

*' Sorrow is for the sons of men 
And weeping for earth's daughters." 

Washington, on his return to Mount Vernon, 
found his beloved step-daughter, Martha Custis, 
in the very last stages of pulmonary consumption. 
She was a beautiful girl of but seventeen summers, 
whom Washington loved as his own child. While 
in anguish he was praying at her bedside, her spirit 
took its flight. She died on the 19th of June, 1773. 

John Park Custis, a petted boy of about sixteen, 
and the heir of a large fortune, remained the idol of 
his indulgent mother. It is pretty evident that he 
had his own way in all things, and that the sound 
judgment of the father often reluctantly yielded to 



THE CONFLICT COMMENXED. 171 

• 

the injudicious fondness of the mother. His education 
had been irregular and imperfect. Tlie impetuous 
youth fell in love with a young daughter of a wealthy 
neighbor, Benedict Calvert, Esq. There was no 
objection to the marriage, excepting the youth of 
the children. It is pretty evident that Washington 
had considerable difficulty in inducing the impul- 
sive lad to consent to the postponement of the 
marriage for a year or two, that he might prosecute 
his studies ; for his education was exceedingly 
defective. 

He accordingly took John to New York, and 
placed him under the care of Rev. Dr. Cooper, who 
was president of King's College, now called Colum- 
bia. The lad went reluctantly, and the fond mother 
was so pliant to his wishes, that but a few months 
passed away when she consented to his return, and 
to his premature marriage. The disapproval of 
Washington is expressed in the following letter to 
President Cooper : 

" It has been against my wishes that he should 
quit college in order that he may soon enter into a 
new scene of life, which I think he would be much 
fitter for some years hence than now. But having 
his own inclination, the desires of his mother, and 
the acquiescence of almost all his relatives to en- 
counter, I did not care, as he is the last of the 



1/2 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

family, to push my opposition too far. I have there 
fore submitted to a kind of necessity." 

The bridegroom had not attained his twenty first 
year when the marriage was celebrated, on the 3d 
of February, 1774. When Washington first learned 
of the attachment, and the engagement, he wrote a 
letter to the father of the young lady, from which 
we make the following extracts : 

" I write to you on a subject of importance, and 
of no small embarrassment to me. My son-in-law 
and ward, Mr. Custis, has, as I have been informed, 
paid his addresses to your second daughter; and, 
having make some progress in her affection, has 
solicited her in marriage. How far a union of this 
sort may be agreeable to you, you best can tell. 
But I should think myself wanting in candor, were 
I not to confess that Miss Nellie's amiable qualities 
are acknowledged on aU hands, and that an alliance 
with your family will be pleasing to his. 

" This acknowledgment being made, you must 
permit me to add, sir, that at this, or in any short 
time, his youth, inexperience, and unripened educa- 
tion are, and will be, insuperable obstacles, in my 
opinion, to the completion of the marriage. As his 
guardian, I conceive it my indispensable duty to 
endeavor to carry him through a regular course of 
education, many branches of which, I am sorry to 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 73 

say, he is to day deficient in, and to guide his youth 
to a more advanced age, before an event, on which 
his own peace, and the happiness of another, are to 
depend, takes place. 

" If the affection, which they have avowed for 
each other, is fixed on a sohd basis, it will receive no 
diminution in the course of two or three years, in 
which time he may prosecute his studies and there- 
by render himself more deserving of the lady, and 
useful to society. If, unfortunately, as they are both 
young, there should be an abatement of affection on 
either side, or both, it had better preceed than follow 
marriage. 

'' Delivering my sentiments thus freely, will not, 
I hope, lead you into a belief that I am desirous of 
breaking off the match. To postpone it is all I have 
in view; for I shall recommend to the young gentle- 
man, with all the warmth that becomes a man of 
honor, to consider himself as much engaged to your 
daughter as if the indissoluble knot were tied ; and, 
as the surest means of effecting this, to apply him- 
self closely to his studies, by which he will, in a 
great measure, avoid those little flirtations with 
other young ladies, that may, by dividing the atten- 
tion, contribute not a little to divide the affection." 

There was throughout the colonies a general 
combination against using tea, upon which Lord 



174 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

North had affixed a tax. The British merchants 
sent, to many of the American ports, ships laden 
with tea. At New York and Philadelphia, the 
people would not allow the tea to be landed ; and 
the ships returned to London with their cargoes. 
At Charleston they landed the cargo and stored it 
in cellars, where it perished, as no purchasers could 
be found. 

At Boston, a number of the inhabitants, dis- 
guised as Indians, boarded at night the tea ships 
which were, anchored in the harbor, and dashing the 
chests, emptied all the tea into the water. This event 
was popularly called The Boston Tea Party. The 
British Government was now thoroughly enraged. 
Its wrath was mainly directed against Boston. 
A bill was enacted by Parliament, known as the 
Boston Port Bill, closing the port against all com- 
merce whatever, and transferring the Custom House 
to Salem. It was supposed that Boston would thus 
be punished by utter ruin. 

As another vindictive measure, as exasperating 
as it was insulting, it was decreed that the people of 
Massachusetts should no longer have any voice in 
the choice of their rulers ; but that all counsellors, 
judges, and magistrates should be appointed by the 
king of Great Britain, and should hold office during 
his royal pleasure. 



THE CONFLICT COMMENXED. 1 75 

Lord Dunmore, who had held the Government 
of New York, upon being appointed Governor of 
Virginia, repaired, after a little delay, to Williams- 
burg. A singular conflict appears to have taken 
place between the Governor and the powerful and 
patriotic aristocracy- of Virginia. He did all in his 
power to win them over to the side of the crown, 
against the American people. His wife was an 
English lady of culture and high accomplishments. 
He had a numerous family* of sons and daughters. 
Quite a brilliant court was estabhshed at Williams- 
burg. Magnificent balls and dinner parties were 
given. Very marked attention was paid to the 
opulent planters and their families, who constituted 
a sort of American nobility. On their vast estates, 
cultivated by hundreds of negro slaves, they occu- 
pied the position of the feudal barons of the Euro- 
pean world. Regulations were drawn up, by order 
of the governor, and officially published, determining 
the etiquette to be observed at these grand recep- 
tions ; and establishing the rank and precedence of 
all military and civil officers and their wives. Un- 
wonted splendor embelHshed the streets of the 
capital. Gilded chariots and four, dra\\-n by the 
most magnificent steeds richly caparisoned, almost 
crowded the streets of Williamsburg. It was indeed 



176 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

a glittering bribe which the governor pressed upon 
the aristocracy of the Ancient Dominion. 

But these noble men wavered not in their 
advocacy of human rights. They stood as firm as 
their own Alleghanies. The advances of the 
governor were cordially met. They accepted the 
proffered hand of friendship. The parties of the 
governor were attended, and entertainments of equal 
splendor were given in return. But not one particle 
of principle was surrendered. Indeed, these nobles 
of the New World hoped that the Earl of Dun- 
more, like Lord Botetourt, might be led to appre- 
ciate the true posture of affairs, and to lend his 
influence to the cause of liberty, rather than to that 
of oppression. 

Washington arrived at Williamsburg on the 15th 
of April, 1773. He immediately called upon the 
governor, to pay him his respects. The military 
and civil offices of Washington caused him to have 
a high position assigned him, in the court regulations. 
The House of Burgesses was opened with great 
pomp. The lady of the governor, having recently 
arrived, the Assembly voted to welcome her with a 
splendid ball, to be given on the 27th of the month. 

Just then intelligence reached Williamsburg, of 
the vindictive acts of Parliament in closing the port 
of Boston, and in depriving the people of the choice 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 77 

of their own rulers. One general burst of indigna- 
tion followed this announcement. A resolution of 
protest was promptly passed, and a day of fasting, 
humiliation, and prayer was appointed, that God 
would save the colonies from civil war ; that He 
would interpose to protect their rights from destruc- 
tion and that he would unite the heartsof all Ameri- 
cans, to oppose whatever encroachment might be 
attempted upon their liberties : 

The anger of Lord Dunmore was aroused. The 
very next morning he summoned the Assembly to 
his council chamber, and, in laconic but excited 
speech, said. 

" Mr. Speaker and Gentlemen of the House of 
Burgesses : I have in my hand a paper, published 
by order of your House, conceived in such terms as 
reflect highly upon his majesty and the parliament 
of Great Britain, which makes it necessary for me to 
dissolve you ; and you are dissolved accordingly." * 

Thus the House of Burgesses was entirely broken 
up. It had no longer any legal existence. The 
members were sent to their homes. A new House 
of Burgesses must be formed, by another election. 

* " To Dissolve ; to bring to an end by separating the parts or dis- 
persing the members of ; to terminate ; to destroy ; to cause to disap- 
pear/ as, to dissolve parhament. 

** To Prorogue ; to continue from one session to another ; to 
adjourn for an indefinite time ; applied to the English Parliament.'* 
Webster, -^ 

8* 



178 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

This hostile act, on the part of the governor, 
excited, of course, great indignation. There was, 
in the vicinity, a pubHc house which had long been 
known as the Old Raleigh Tavern. To a large hall 
in this house the members adjourned. They were 
now merely private citizens, with no official power. 
As a convention, however, they passed resolutions 
strongly denouncing the acts of parliament, recom- 
mending to all the colonies to desist from the use of 
tea, and all other European commodities, and recom- 
mending the assembly of a General Congress, to be 
composed of deputies from the several colonies. 

This all-important measure met with prompt 
concurrence, the 5th of September was appointed 
for the meeting of the first Congress in Philadelphia. 

Still the gentlemen of Virginia remained on 
courteous terms with Lord Dunmore. The ball was 
attended with great spirit. It is said that the Earl 
was very marked in his attentions to Washington. 
He appreciated his lofty character, and the influence 
he was capable of exerting. On the very day when 
the governor dissolved the Assembly, Washington 
dined with him, and spent the evening in his com- 
pany. The governor also soon accompanied Wash- 
ington to Mount Vernon, breakfasted with him, and, 
by his side, rode over the splendid estate. 

Two days after the ball, letters reached Williams- 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 79 

burg, from Boston, recommending a general league 
of the colonies and the suspension of all trade with 
Great Britain. Most of the members of the dissolved 
Assembly had returned to their homes. But twenty- 
five remained. They held a convention at which 
Peyton Randolph presided. It was voted to call a 
meeting of all the members of the late House of 
Burgesses, to take steps for the formation of such a 
league. 

On the 1st of June the Boston Port Bill was to 
be enforced. The day was observed in Williamsburg 
and elsewhere as a season of fasting and prayer.* 
All business ceased. Flags were draped in crape, 
and hung at half-mast. Funeral bells were tolled. 
Less than three million of people were rising in 
opposition to the despotism of one of the most 
powerful empires on the globe. Every thoughtful 
man must have been pale with apprehension. The 
odds against the colonies were fearful. The king 
and his courtiers felt that they had but to close the 
hand that grasped the throat of the colonies, and 
inevitable strangulation would ensue. The awful 
cloud was growing blacker every day. There was 
no alternative for the Americans, but to bow their 
necks to the yoke of the cruel taskmaster, and sur- 

* Washington's diary testifies that he fasted rigidly, and attended 
divine worship in the Episcopal Church. He still retained friendly 
intercourse with the Dunmore family. 



l8o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

render all their liberties, or to engage in a conflict 
where it would seem that the chances were hundreds 
to one against them. Issues awful beyond conception 
were at stake. Solemnity sat on all countenances. 

The king of England appointed General Thomas 
Gage to command the military forces in Massachu- 
setts. The general had said to the king: 

" The Americans will be lions only so long as the 
English are lambs. Give me five regiments and I 
will keep Boston quiet." 

Gage issued a proclamation denouncing the con- 
templated league as traitorous, and as consequently 
justly consigning all who should join it, to the scaf- 
fold. He ostentatiously encamped a force of artillery 
and infantry on the Common ; and prohibited all 
public meetings, except the annual town meetings in 
March and May. 

Washington returned to Mount Vernon the lat- 
ter part of June. He presided at a convention of 
the inhabitants of Fairfax county, and was appointed 
chairman of a committee to express the sentiments 
of the meeting in view of the despotic acts of Parlia- 
ment. The Fairfaxes, with their large wealth and 
their intimate associations with the British aristoc- 
racy, were exceedingly reluctant to break with the 
mother country. Bryan Fairfax, a very aimable man, 
with all of the gentle, and none of the sterq attributes 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. l8l 

of humanity, occupied a beautiful mansion called 
Tarlston Hall, on an estate near Mount Vernon. 
He wrote to Washington, disapproving of the strong 
public measures which were adopted, and urging a 
petition to the throne. Washington replied : 

"■ I would heartily join you in your political sen- 
timents, as far as relates to a humble and dutiful 
petition to the throne, provided there was the most 
distant hope of success. But have we not tried this 
already? Have we not addressed the Lords and 
remonstrated to the Commons? And to what end? 
Does it not appear clear as the sun in its meridian 
brightness, that there is a regular, systematical plan 
to fix the right and practice of taxation upon us?" 

Washington, as chairman of the committee, drew 
up some admirable resolutions in entire accordance 
with the spirit of liberty which the Americans had 
thus far advocated. They were very forcibly 
expressed, and to them the king and Parliament 
could only reply with bayonets and bullets. The 
resolutions were promptly adopted, and Washington 
was chosen a delegate to represent the county at a 
general convention of the province of Virginia, to be 
held at W^iUiamsburg, on the 1st of August, 1773. 

Washington had strong hopes that the Non- 
Importation scheme would lead Parhament to a 
sense of justice, without an appeal to arms. 



1 82 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

*^ I am convinced," he said, '' that there is no 
rehef for us but in their distress. And I think, at 
least I hope, that there is public virtue enough left 
among us, to deny ourselves everything but the bare 
necessaries of life to accomplish this." 

Some suggested that the Americans should 
refuse to pa}^ the debts which they owed the Eng- 
lish merchants. To this proposition Washington 
indignantly replied : 

*' While we are thus accusing others of injustice 
we should be just ourselves. And how this can be, 
while we owe a considerable debt, and refuse pay- 
ment of it, to Great Britain is, to me, inconceivable. 
Nothing but the last extremity can justify it." 

On the 1st of August the convention, composed 
of delegates from all parts of Virginia, met at 
Williamsburg. Washington presented the resolu- 
tion he had been appointed to draft, in behalf of the 
citizens of Fairfax county. His feelings were so 
thoroughly aroused that he advocated them with a 
speech of remarkable eloquence. All were astonished ; 
for Washington was not an eloquent man, but a 
man of calm judgment and deliberate speech. In the 
ardor of the moment, and fully prepared to fulfill 
his promise to the letter, he said : 

** I am ready to raise one thousand men, subsist 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 83 

them at my own expense, and march, at their head, 
to the reHef of Boston." * 

The convention continued in session six days. 
George Washington, and six others, of the most 
illustrious sons of Virginia, were chosen to represent 
the province in the first colonial Congress. Soon 
after his return to Mount Vernon he received a 
letter from Bryan Fairfax, which throws much 
light upon the character of both of these estimable 
men. Mr. Fairfax wrote, in reference to the letter 
which he had previously sent to Washington, and 
which had not met with approval : 

*' I am uneasy to find that any one should look 
upon the letter as repugnant to the principles we are 
contending for. And therefore, when you have 
leisure I shall take it as a favor, if you will let me 
know wherein it was thought so. I beg leave to 
look upon you as a friend ; and it is a great relief 
to unbosom one's thoughts to a friend. Besides, 
the information, and the correction of my errors, 
which I may obtain from a correspondence are 
great inducements to it. For I am convinced that 
no man in the colony wishes its prosperity more, 
would go greater lengths to serve it, or is, at the 
same time a better subject to the crown. Pray 

* See information given to the elder Adams, by Mr. Lynch of 
South Carolina. — Adams' Diary. 



1 84 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

excuse these compliments. They may be tolerable 
from a friend." * 

Washington was crowded with public and private 
affairs. He had no time to enter into a lengthy 
discussion. But in his brief reply he wrote : 

" I can only, in general, add that an innate spirit 
of freedom first told me that the measures which 
the administration have for some time been, and 
now are violently pursuing, are opposed to every 
principle of natural justice ; while much abler heads 
than my own have fully convinced me that they are 
not only repugnant to natural right, but subversive 
of the laws and constitution of Great Britain itself." 

The spirit of despotism held Boston in its own 
clutch. The port bill was enforced. No ships 
entered the harbor ; the warehouses were closed ; the 
streets were deserted ; the rich were impoverished, 
and the poor were without employment and with- 
out food. A park of artillery was stationed upon 
the Common. Four large field pieces were planted, 
to sweep Boston Neck, the only approach to the 
town by land ; a regiment of British regulars was 
encamped on Fort Hill. Boston bore the aspect of 
a city in military possession of the enemy. All hearts 
were moved with indignation, and yet there was a 
wonderful display of circumspection and sound 

* " Washington's Writings," by Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 329. 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 85 

judgment governing the indomitable courage of the 
inhabitants. 

On the 5th of September, 1774, Congress assem- 
bled in a large building called Carpenter's Hall, in 
Philadelphia. Washington had made the journey 
there on horseback, from Mount Vernon, in the 
noble companionship of Patrick Henry and Edmund 
Pendleton. It was a solemn meeting of as majestic 
men as ever dwelt on this globe.* 

All sectional and religious differences were 
merged in the one great object which absorbed their 
thoughts and energies. Patrick Henry expressed 
the common sentiment as, in a speech of eloquence 
such as has rarely been uttered from human lips, he 
exclaimed : 

'• All America is thrown into one mass. Where 
are your landmarks, your boundaries of colonies? 
They are all thrown down. The distinctions 
between Virginians, Pennsylvanians, New Yorkers, 
and New Englanders are no more. I am not a 
Virginian^ but an American." 

Most of these men were imbued with deep 
religious feeling. Every man, of true grandeur of 

* " It is such an Assembly as never before came together, on a sud- 
den, in any part of the world. Here are fortunes, abilities, learning, 
eloquence, acuteness, equal to any I ever met with in my life. Here is a 
diversity of religions education, manners, interests, such as it would seem 
impossible to unite in one plan of conduct." — Diary of yolin Adams. 



1 86 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

mind, must be awed by the tremendous mystery of 
this our earthly being — emerging from the sublime 
eternity of the past, to this brief, meteoric, tempestu- 
ous life, but again to plunge into the profundity of 
the eternity before us. 

These patriots, moving amid solemnities of in- 
finite moment, and threatened with the ruin of their 
own country and personal martyrdom, felt the need 
of the guidance and the aid of God. There were 
different religious denominations represented. Sam- 
uel Adams, one of Massachusetts' noble patriots, a 
strong Congregationalist, rose and said : 

** I can wiUingly join with any gentleman, of 
whatever denomination, who is a friend of his 
country. Rev. Mr. Duche, of this city, is such a 
man. I therefore move that he be invited to offi- 
ciate as chaplain." 

Mr. Duche was an eminent Episcopal clergyman. 
He appeared in his Episcopal robes, and read the 
impressive morning service, the clerk making the 
responses. On the 6th of September, a rumor, 
which afterward proved to be incorrect, reached 
Congress that the British were cannonading Boston. 
It so chanced that the Psalter for that day in- 
cluded the following verses from the 35th Psalm : 

" Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive 
with me. Fight against them that fight against me. 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 8/ 

Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for 
my help. Draw out also the spear, and stop the way 
of them that persecute me. Say unto my soul, I 
am thy salvation." 

John Adams gave a very vivid description of the 
scene, in a letter to his wife. He wrote: ''You 
must remember this was the morning after we heard 
the horrible rumor of the cannonade of Boston. I 
never saw a greater effect upon an audience. It 
seemed as if heaven had ordained that psalm to be 
read, on that morning. 

** After, this Mr. Duch6 unexpectedly struck out 
into an extempore prayer, which filled the bosom of 
every man present. Episcopalian as he is. Dr. Coo- 
per himself never prayed with such fervor, such 
ardor, such earnestness and pathos, and in language 
so eloquent and sublime for America, for the Congress, 
for the province of Massachusetts Bay, and espe- 
cially for the town of Boston." 

Most of the members of Congress stood during 
this prayer. But it was observed that Washington 
threw himself upon his knees ; and undoubtedly his 
devout spirit joined fervently in each petition. As 
the result of this session of Congress, it was resolved 
to recommend to decHne all commercial relations 
with Great Britain. An address was prepared, to 
the people of Canada, urging the inhabitants there 



1 88 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

to make common cause with their brethren of the 
more southern colonies. A respectful but firm 
remonstrance was addressed to King George III. 
and a statement of facts was presented to the peo- 
ple of Great Britain.'^ 

The Congress remained in session fifty-one days. 
Patrick Henry, on his return home, was asked whom 
he considered the greatest man in Congress. He 
replied : 

** If you speak of eloquence, Mr. Rutlidge, of 
South Carolina, is by far the greatest orator. But 
if you speak of solid information, and sound judg- 
ment, Colonel Washington is unquestionably the 
greatest man on that floor." 

Washington returned to Mount Vernon. Clouds 
of sorrow darkened his dwelling, Mrs. Washington 
was lonely and grief-stricken. Her beautiful, ami- 
able, only daughter, was in the grave. Her only 
son was absent. Her noble husband had embarked 
in a cause which menaced him with the scaffold. 

* The illustrious William Pitt, Earl of Chatham, whose espousal, 
in the House of Lords, of the cause of the colonists has won for him the 
eternal gratitude of every American, said to the Lords, in Parliament : 

"When your lordships look at the papers transmitted to us from 
America ; when you consider their decency, firmness, and wisdom, you 
cannot but respect their cause, and wish to make it your own. For 
myself I must declare and avow that, in the master states of the world 
I know not the people or senate who, in such a complication of diffi 
cult circumstances, can stand in preference to the delegates of America 
assembled in General Congress at Philadelphia." 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 89 

Their much loved neighbor, George William Fairfax, 
whose friendship and intimacy had been one of their 
chief social joys, had left his estate at Belvoir, under 
the care of an overseer, and had returned to Eng- 
land, to enter upon the possession of large estates 
which had devolved upon him there. Washington, 
overwhelmed with immense national solicitudes, 
found his home enveloped in an atmosphere of lone- 
liness and sadness. Such is human Hfe. Such it has 
been from the days of the patriarchs : 

*' A path it is of joys and griefs, of many hopes and fears, 
Gladdened at times by sunny smiles, but oftener dimmed by tears." 

In March, 1774, Washington attended another 
Virginia Convention, at Richmond. Not one word 
of conciliation came from the British cabinet ; but 
only insults and defiance, accompanied by acts of 
increasing outrage. 

" It is useless," exclaimed Patrick Henry, " to 
address further petitions to the British government ; 
or to await the effect of those already addressed to 
the throne. We must fight. I repeat it, we must 
fight. An appeal to arms, and to the God of Hosts, 
is all that is left to us." 

Washington expressed full sympathy in these 
sentiments. He wrote to his brother Augustine, 
offering to take command of a company he was 
raising and discipHning. He added, ** It is my full 



1 90 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

intention to devote my life and fortune to the 
cause." * 

There were four thousand British troops in Bos- 
ton. The province had a supply of military stores 
at Concord, distant about eighteen miles. On the 
night of the i8th of April, 1775, General Gage 
sent a detachment of about nine hundred men to 
capture and destroy the stores. The expedition was 
organized with the utmost secrecy. Boats, from 
the men-of-war anchored in the harbor, took the 
troops, from the foot of the Common, about ten 
o'clock at night, and carried them across the bay to 
Lechmere Point in Cambridge. Officers were sta- 
tioned at all important points to prevent any intelli- 
gence of the expedition from being communicated 
to the people. 

But eagle eyes were watching the movement, 
and couriers, on fleet horses were soon rushing, 
through the gloom of night, from farm-house to farm- 
house, with the alarming tidings. The bells in the 
village steeples sent forth their cry. And, through 
the night air, the booming of cannon was heard, pro- 
claiming to the startled people that the detested 
foe was on the war-path. 

Colonel Smith, who led the British soldiers, was 
alarmed. He sent back to General Gage for rein- 

* " Washington's Writings," by Jared Sparks, vol. ii. p. 405. 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 19I 

forcements. At the same time he pushed Major 
Pitcairn forward with the advance, to seize the 
bridges at Concord, lest the Americans might 
attempt there to oppose his progress. Pitcairn cap- 
tured every man he met or overtook. When he 
reached Lexington, about seventy or eighty of the 
people were huddled together on the green, near the 
church. They had sprung from their beds, half- 
dressed ; some had guns in their hands, and some 
were unarmed, mere lookers-on, bewildered by a 
movement which signified they knew not what. 

Pitcairn, splendidly mounted, and at the head 
of his strong array of British regulars, was approach- 
ing on the double-quick. As soon as he caught 
sight of the feeble band of citizens, he drew his 
sword, and shouted, with oaths which we need not 
record : 

" Disperse, you villains. Lay down your arms 
and disperse." Then turning to his men he added, 
with still other oaths, ** Fire ! " * 

* It has genei-ally been understood, as is stated here, that Major 
Pitcairn gave these orders. But Mr. Elias Phinney, in his very care- 
fully prepared History of the Battle at Lexington, vi^rites : 

" The British troops came up shouting, and almost upon the run, 
till within about ten rods of our line. Their commander, Lieutenant- 
Colonel Smith, advanced a few yards and exclaimed, ' Lay down 
your arms and disperse, you damned rebels ! — Rush on, my boys. 
Fire ! ' The order not being instantly obeyed, he again called out 
brandishing his sword with great fury, ' Fire ! God damn you, fire.* 



192 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The soldiers were more humane than their com- 
mander. It seemed to them Hke murder, to be 
shooting these helpless citizens, who could offer no 
resistance to their march. The soldiers of the first 
platoon discharged their muskets ; but took care 
to throw the bullets over the heads of those whom 
they were assailing. One or two muskets were dis- 
charged by the Americans as, in consternation, they 
turned and fled.^ The British now opened a deadly 
fire. Eight of the Americans were killed, and ten 
wounded. The victorious British held the field. 
It was between four and five o'clock, of a September 
morning, and, in its dim light, objects at a distance 
could be but feebly discerned. 

Two only of the British were wounded, one in 
the leg and one on the hand. In token of their 

The first platoon then fired over the heads of our men. Colonel Smith 
repeating his order to fire, a general discharge, from the front ranks, 
was made directly into the American ranks. On receiving the fire of the 
first platoon, the Provincials imagined the regulars had fired nothing 
but powder, and did not offer to return it. But on the second dis- 
charge, seeing some of their numbers fall and others wounded, they 
no longer hesitated as to their right to resist, and some of them im- 
mediately returned the fire." — History of the Battle of Lexington, by 
Elias Phinney, p. 20. 

* It is difficult to find any two narratives of these events which 
will agree in the minute details. It was a scene of awful con- 
fusion, and honest men would differ in the accounts they gave. But 
there can be no question whatever, that the all-important general 
facts are as here recorded. — See History of the Battle of Lexington, by 
Elias Phinney, and an admirable account of the expedition by Frede- 
rick Hudson in Harper's Magazine, vol. 50. 



THE CONFLICT C'OMMENGED. 1 93 

victory the whole body fired a triumphant salute, 
and gave three cheers. They then marched, unop- 
posed, six miles farther toward Concord. About 
seven o'clock they entered the town, in two divisions, 
by different roads. In the meantime many of the 
stores had been removed, so that the work of 
destruction, which was promptly commenced, proved 
not very successful. 

By ten o'clock about four hundred armed Ameri- 
cans had assembled, in the vicinity, and the British 
commenced a retreat. The whole country was now 
alarmed. The farmers, with their rusty guns and 
rude accoutrements, were rushing, from all direc- 
tions, to meet the foe. The highly disciphoed 
regulars, in imposing battle array, but beginning to 
tremble, pressed along the road on their homeward 
route. The rustic marksmen, from behind rocks 
and trees and stumps and sheltering buildings, 
opened a straggling fire, which every moment 
seemed to increase in severity and deadliness. 

Some of the British soldiers were shot dead ; 
some were severely wounded, and had to be carried 
along by their comrades ; and some dropped down, 
in utter exhaustion, by the way. While thus re- 
treating, every hour added to their dismay, and the 
most ignorant soldier could see that they were in 
imminent danger of being entirely cut off by theii 
9 



194 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

rapidly increasing foes. Their fears had now 
swollen to a panic. 

About nine o'clock in the morning, General Gage 
had heard of the peril to which his troops were ex- 
posed, and he immediately despatched reinforce- 
ments, under Lord Percy, to their aid. The British 
Lord, as he commenced his maixh ordered his band, 
in derision of the Americans, to play " Yankee Doo- 
dle." His troops consisted of a brigade of a thou- 
sand men, with two field-pieces. This force he 
deemed invincible by any power Massachusetts 
could bring against it. Hilariously he led his vet- 
erans over the Neck and through Roxbury, as if 
on a pleasure excursion. 

About noon, to his surprise, he met the British 
regulars, in utter rout, flying as fast as terror could 
drive them, before the Massachusetts farmers. He 
opened his brigade to the right and left to receive 
the fugitives, and, planting his field-pieces on an 
eminence, held the Americans at bay."^ A few 
moments were allowed for refreshment and repose, 
when the whole force resumed its humiliating flight. 
The enraged British soldiers behaved like savages. 
They set fire to the houses and shops by the way. 

* An eye-witness writes : " When the distressed troops reached 
the hollow square, formed by the fresh troops for their reception, they 
were obliged to lie down upon the ground, their tongues hanging out 
of their mouths like those of the dogs after the chase." 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. I95 

Women and children were maltreated. The sick 
and helpless were driven from their flaming dwell- 
ings into the fields. 

The Americans hotly pursued. They kept up 
a constant fire, from every available point. The 
British occasionally made a stand, and sharp skir- 
mishes ensued. Every hour the march of the fugi- 
tives became more and more impeded by the 
number of their wounded. A bullet pierced the 
leg of Colonel Smith, and he sat upon his horse 
pallid and bleeding. A musket ball struck a button 
from the waistcoat of Lord Percy. One of his 
officers was so severely wounded that he had to be 
left behind, at West Cambridge. The ammunition 
of the British was failing them. Companies of the 
American militia were hurrying to the scene of 
battle, from Roxbury, Dorchester, and Milton. 
Colonel Pickering was approaching, with seven 
hundred of the Essex militia. 

About sunset the wretched fugitives reached 
Charlestown Common, where they found rest under 
the protection of the guns of the British men-of-war. 
Gage was astounded at the disaster. The idea had 
not entered his mind that the unorganized farmers 
of Massachusetts would dare to meet, in hostile 
array, soldiers inured to war on the battle-fields of 
Europe. One of his officers had recently written to 



196 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

London, that the idea of the Americans taking up 
arms was ridiculous. He said : 

" Whenever it comes to blows the American that 
can run the fastest will think himself well off, believe 
me. Any two regiments here ought to be deci- 
mated if they did not beat, in the field, the whole 
force of the Massachusetts province." 

Washington wrote: "If the retreat had not 
been as precipitate as it was — and God knows it 
could not well have been more so — the ministe- 
rial troops must have surrendered or been totally 
cut off." 

In this memorable conflict, which ushered in the 
awful war of the Revolution, with its appalling cata- 
logue of woes, the British lost, in killed, wounded, 
and missing, two hundred and seventy-one. Eigh- 
teen of their slain were officers. The loss of the 
Americans was forty-nine killed, thirty-nine wounded, 
and five missing.* 

History records many atrocious crimes against 
the British court and cabinet. But perhaps there 
is none more unnatural, cruel, and criminal, 
than for that proud and powerful empire thus to 
attempt to rivet the chains of despotism upon her 
own sons and daughters, who were struggling, with 

* See minute and admirable account by Mr. Frederick Hudson, 
in Harper s Magazine^ No. 300, 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 



197 



the hardships of the , wilderness, that they might 
enjoy civil and religious liberty. 

This outrage roused all America. The tidings 
reached Virginia at a critical moment. Lord Dun- 
more, in obedience to a ministerial order which the 
king had sent to all the provincial governors, was 
then seizing upon the military munitions of the 
province. It was clear that the entire subjugation 
of the colonies was to be attempted. Every county 
in Virginia was crying '' To Arms." Nearly all 
Virginians were looking to Washington to take 
command of the Virginia troops. 

Washington was at Mount Vernon, preparing to 
leave for Philadelphia, as a delegate to the second 
Congress. Mr. Bryan Fairfax and Major Horatio 
Gage chanced to be his guests at that time. Wash- 
ington wrote to his friend, George William Fairfax, 
then in England, in the following terms, alike 
characteristic of his humanity and his firmness : 

" Unhappy it is to reflect that a brother's sword 
has been sheathed in a brother's breast ; and that 
the once happy and peaceful fields of America are 
either to be drenched with blood or inhabited by 
slaves. Sad alternative ! But can a virtuous man 
hesitate in his choice." 

It was now war. In all directions troops were 
mustering. A large camp of Americans held the 



198 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

British besieged in Boston. A heroic band, mainly 
of New Hampshire and Vermont men, under Ethan 
Allen, surprised and captured, without bloodshed, 
the old forts of Ticonderoga and Crown Point, 
where a large supply of military and naval stores 
was obtained. 

The second Congress met, on the loth of May, 
1775. Peyton Randolph, of Virginia, was chosen 
president. Being obliged soon to return to Virginia, 
as speaker of the Virginia Assembly, John Hancock, 
one of the most illustrious sons of Massachusetts, 
succeeded him in the chair. There was still a 
lingering attachment for the mother country, which 
was ever affectionately called Hojne. All wished 
for reconciliation. Though a " humble and dutiful " 
petition to the king was moved and carried, many 
of the members regarded it as entirely futile, and 
somewhat humihating. John Adams, of Massachu- 
setts, vigorously opposed it as an imbecile measure. 

A federal union was formed, which leagued the 
colonies together in a military confederacy. Each 
colony regulated its own internal affairs. The con- 
gress of their delegates was vested with the power 
of making peace or war, and of legislating on all $ 

matters which involved the common security. ' 

The enlistment of troops was authorized, forts were 
ordered to be reared and garrisoned, and notes, to 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 1 99 

the amount of three million dollars, were voted to be 
issued, on the pledged faith of the Confederacy, and 
bearing the inscription of " The United Colonies." 

Washington was appointed chairman of the 
committee on military affairs. The infinitely im- 
portant question agitated all hearts, Who should fill 
the responsible post of commander-in-chief of the 
united colonial armies ? 

General Charles Lee, an Englishman by birth, 
and a rough soldier, trained amid the rudeness of 
camps, was a prominent candidate. He was a veteran 
fighter, and had obtained great renown, for his reck- 
less courage on some of the most bloody fields of 
European warfare. It does not seem, however, that 
Lee thought of seeking the office. When informed 
that his name had been proposed as a candidate, 
he wrote to Edmund Burke: 

" To think myself qualified for the most impor- 
tant charge that was ever committed to mortal man 
is the last stage of presumption. Nor do I think 
that the Americans would, or ought to confide in a 
man, let his qualifications be ever so great, who has 
no property among them. It is true I most devoutly 
wish them success, in the glorious struggle ; that I 
have expressed my wishes both in writing and viva 
voce. But my errand to Boston was only to see a 
people in so singular circumstances." 



200 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It would seem, from John Adams' diary, that he 
was the first to propose Washington. There was 
an army of about ten thousand men encamped 
around Boston. They were nearly all New Eng- 
landers. It seemed a little discourteous to go to 
Virginia to find a commander. But Mr. Adams rose 
in his place and, in a few forcible words, proposed 
that Congress should adopt the army at Cambridge, 
and appoint George Washington, of Virginia, Gen- 
eral-in-Chief. 

" The gentleman," he said, " is among us, and 
is very well known to us all ; a gentleman whose 
skill and experience as an officer, whose independ- 
ent fortune, great talents, and excellent univer- 
sal character would command the approbation of 
all America, and unite the cordial exertions of all 
the colonies better than any other person in 
the Union." 

On the 15th of May the ''Continental Army" 
was adopted by Congress. The pay of the com- 
mander-in-chief was fixed at five hundred dollars a 
month ; and Washington received the unanimous 
vote, by ballot, for the all-important office. When 
the vote was formally announced, Washington rose, 
and in a brief speech, expressive of his high sense of 
the honor conferred upon him, said : 

" I beg it may be remembered by every gentle- 



THE CONFLICT COMMENCED. 201 

man in the room, that I this day declare, with the 
utmost sincerity, that I do not think myself equal 
to the command I am honored with. As to pay, 
I beg leave to assure the Congress that, as no 
pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to 
accept this arduous employment, at the expense of 
my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to 
make any profit of it. I will keep an exact account 
of my expenses. Those, I doubt not, they will dis- 
charge ; and that is all I desire.* 

* John Adams wrote to a friend : " There is something charm- 
ing to me in the conduct of Washington ; a gentleman of the first 
fortunes on the continent, leaving his delicious retirement, his family 
and friends, sacrificing his ease, and hazarding all in the cause of his 
\\ country. His views are noble and disinterested. He declared, when 

he accepted the mighty trust, that he would lay before us an exact 
account of his expenses, and not accept a shilling pay." 

q* 



I 



CHAPTER VII. 

Progress of the War. 

Letter to his Wife — Affairs at Boston — Proclamation of Gage — The 
Battle of Bunker Hill — Results of the Battle — The Loss on each 
side — The journey of Washington — Scenes in New York — Wash- 
ington's Arrival at Cambridge — His Appearance — He takes the 
Command — The two Forces — Condition of the Americans — 
Washington's Officers — Qiaracter of Joseph Reed — Correspond- 
ence with Gates — Project for the Invasion of Canada — The 
Indian Alliance. 

Washington wrote in terms of great tenderness 
to his afflicted wife, whom he had no time to visit. 
We find the following expressions in his letter : 

** My Dearest : I am now set down to write to 
you on a subject which fills me with inexpressible 
concern. And this concern is greatly aggravated 
and increased when I reflect upon the uneasiness I 
know it will give you. 

" You may believe me, my dear Patty, when I 
assure you, in the most solemn manner, that, so far 
from seeking this appointment, I have used every 
endeavor in my power to avoid it ; not only from 
my unwillingness to part with you and the family, 
but from a consciousness of its beinf^ a trust too 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 203 

great for my capacity. I should enjoy more real 
happiness in one month with you at home, than I 
have the most distant prospect of finding abroad, if 
my stay were to be seven times seven years. 

" I shall rely confidently in that Providence 
which has heretofore preserved and been bountiful 
to me. I shall feel no pain from the toil or danger 
of the campaign. My unhappiness will flow from 
the uneasiness I know you will feel from being 
left alone. I therefore beg that you will summon 
your whole fortitude, and pass your time as agree- 
ably as possible. Nothing will give me so much 
sincere satisfaction as to hear this, and to hear it 
from your pen." 

Washington received his commission on the 20th 
of June. The next day he left Philadelphia for the 
army. He was then forty-three years of age, and 
in perfect health. His commanding stature, thought- 
ful countenance, and dignified demeanor arrested 
the attention and won the admiration of every 
beholder. He sat his horse with ease and grace 
rarely equalled and never surpassed. 

Not quite four weeks before, several ships-of- 
war and transports, with large reinforcements, had 
entered Boston Harbor, from England. They 
brought also the distinguished generals, Burgoyne, 
Howe, and Clinton. There were, at that time, five 



204 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

thousand British regulars in the city. Ten thou- 
sand Americans held them in close siege. As 
Burgoyne stood upon the deck of his ship, and had 
the American's camp pointed out to him, he ex- 
claimed, with surprise and scorn : 

'' What ! ten thousand American peasants keep 
five thousand British shut up ! Well, let us get in, 
and we will soon find elbow room." 

Encouraged by these reinforcements. Gage 
issued a proclamation putting the province under 
martial law, threatening to punish, with death, as 
rebels and traitors, all who should continue under 
arms, but offering pardon to all who would return 
to their allegiance, excepting John Hancock and 
Samuel Adams. It was declared that their offences 
were '^ too flagitious, not to meet with condign 
punishment." 

The threat exasperated the Americans, and the 
army was soon increased to about fifteen thousand. 
It was a motley assemblage of unorganized men 
under no one leader. There were' four distinct and 
independent bodies. The Massachusetts troops 
were under General Artemas Ward ; General John 
Stark led the New Hampshire men. The Rhode 
Islanders were under the command of General 
Nathaniel Greene. The impetuous and reckless 
Putnam was at the head of the Connecticut soldiers. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 205 

Intelligence, in those days, travelled slowly. On 
the 17th of June, 1775, the world-renowned battle of 
Bunker Hill was fought. But no rumor of the con- 
flict had reached Philadelphia when Washington 
left for Cambridge, three days later. Washington 
was accompanied by Generals Lee and Schuyler, 
and a brilliant escort of Philadelphia troops. 
They had advanced but about twenty miles from 
the city, when they caught sight, in the distance, of 
a courier advancing, spurring his horse to his 
utmost speed. He brought despatches of the 
battle. Washington inquired, with almost breath- 
less anxiety, into all the particulars. When told that 
• the Americans stood their ground bravely, reserved 

their fire till they could take deliberate aim, and 
did not retreat until all their ammunition was 
expended, he exclaimed, with deep emotion, '' The 
liberties of our country are safe." 

We need not here enter into the details of this 
battle, as it was one in which Washington took no 
part. A general description of the wonderful event 
is however needful, that the reader may compre- 
hend the transactions which soon ensued, resulting 
from it. 

The American troops were kept together only 
by a general feehng of indignation against their 
oppressors. None of them were acquainted with 



2o6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the discipline of European armies. Most of them 
were without any uniform, or any soldierly accoutre- 
ments. The farmers and their boys had left the 
plough in the furrow, caught up the musket or the 
fowHng-piece with the powder-horn, and, in their 
coarse, homespun clothes, without food, and with but 
the slightest supply of ammunition, had rushed 
to the field, to combat the veteran soldiers of Great 
Britain, under leaders who had already obtained 
renown in many a hard-fought battle. 

There was a ridge of quite commanding heights, 
in the rear of the village of Charlestown, which over- 
looked the town and the shipping. Two of the most 
prominent of these eminences were called Bunker's 
Hill and Breed's Hill. A council of war decided to 
seize and occupy those heights. It was necessary 
that the enterprise should be undertaken with the 
utmost secrecy and caution ; for the British men-of- 
war could open upon the works a deadly cannonade. 

It was Friday night, the i6th of June. Just 
before sunset, about twelve hundred American 
soldiers, were assembled on Charlestown Common. 
None but the officers were aware of the expedition 
which was to be undertaken. President Langdon, 
of Harvard College, offered prayers. In the fading 
twilight they commenced their silent march. 
Though five of the British ships-of-war were an- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 20/ 

chored, so as to bear, with their broadsides, upon 
the peninsula. The troops, in the darkness, and 
with careful tread, crossed the isthmus unseen. 

Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill were so nearly 
connected as to be almost one. The lines, for the 
fortifications were marked out on Breed's Hill, and 
the American farmers, accustomed to the spade, 
went to work with a will. It was a warm summer 
night, and the serene, cloudless sky was brilliantly 
illumined with stars. From the shores of Boston 
the sentinel's cry of *' All's well," floated over the 
silent waters. 

As the day dawned, some sailors, on board one 
of the ships, espied the rising ramparts. The alarmT 
was given. The ships promptly commenced their 
fire. Such thunders of war had never before been 
heard in that peaceful bay. All Boston was roused 
by the terrific cannonade. But the intrenchments 
were already so far advanced, as to afford the men 
protection from the iron storm with which they 
were assailed. 

Gage called a council of war. From these 
heights, the Americans, should they hold them, 
could bombard Boston and the shipping. It was 
deemed necessary to dislodge them, at whatever 
cost. Twenty-eight large barges were crowded with 
the best of British troops, in their best equipments. 



208 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Major-General Howe led them. It was not yet 
noon-day. The spectacle was sublime, as these 
veteran soldiers, in their scarlet uniforms, and with 
the brilliant sun of a June morning reflected from 
poHshed muskets and bayonets and brass field- 
pieces, were rowed across the placid waters in paral- 
lel lines. 

They landed at Moulton's Point, a little north 
of Breed's Hill. Immediately every British ship 
in the harbor, and every battery which could bring 
its guns to bear upon the American works, opened 
fire. Not a cannon, not a musket, was discharged 
in return. Silence, as of the tomb, reigned behind 
►the American intrenchments. The British soldiers, 
in military array, which they deemed irresistible, 
and which was truly appalling, commenced the 
ascent of the hill. The Americans, crouched be- 
hind their earthworks, took deliberate aim, and im- 
patiently awaited the order to fire. 

When the British were within thirty paces of 
the Americans there was a simultaneous discharge. 
The slaughter was awful. Every bullet hit its 
mark. Still the British troops, with disciplined valor 
characteristic of the nation, continued to advance 
notwithstanding an incessant stream of fire, which 
mowed down whole ranks. But soon the carnage 
became too deadly to be endured. The whole body 



i 



^ 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 209 

broke and rushed precipitately down the hill in 
utter confusion. Thousand of spectators in Boston 
crowded the roofs, the heights, the steeples, watch- 
ing this subHme spectacle with varying emotions. 
The British soldiers were astonished, and could 
hardly believe the testimony of their eye-sight, 
when they beheld the British regulars retreating in 
confusion before the American militia. But who 
can describe or imagine the emotions which 
agitated the bosoms of American wives and daugh- 
ters, as they gazed upon the surges of the dreadful 
conflict, where their fathers, husbands, sons, and 
brothers were struggling in the midst of the awful 
carnage. 

At the bottom of the hill, the troops were again 
marshalled in line, and, with reinforcements, com- 
menced another ascent of the hill to storm the 
works. When within pistol-shot another series of 
volleys, flash following flash, was opened upon them. 
The ground was instantly covered with the dying 
and the dead. Again the bleeding, panic-stricken 
regulars, assailed by such a storm of bullets as they 
never had encountered before, recoiled and fled. 
Charlestown was now in flames, and a spectacle 
of horror was presented, such as even the veterans 
in European warfare were appalled to contemplate. 

The case was becoming desperate. The British 



2IO GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

general, Burgoyne, was watching the scene, from 
one of the baterries in Boston, with mingled emotions 
of astonishment and anxiety. He wrote to a friend 
in London : 

" Sure I am, nothing ever has or ever can be 
more dreadfully terrible than what was to be seen 
or heard at this time. The most incessant discharge 
of guns that ever was heard by mortal ears ; straight 
before, a large and noble town all in one great blaze, 
and the church steeples, being timber, were great 
pyramids of fire ; the roar of cannon, mortars, and 
muskets to fill the ear, the storm of the redoubts to 
fill the eye ; and the reflection that perhaps a defeat 
was a final loss of the British Empire in America, 
to fill the mind, made the whole a picture and a 
complication of horror and importance, beyond any- 
thing that ever came to my lot to witness." * 

Howe ordered a third attack. Many of the British 
officers remonstrated, saying that it would be down- 
right butchery. General Clinton, who had been 
watching the action from Copp's Hill, hurriedly 
crowded some boats with reinforcements, and 
crossed the water to aid in a renewal of the battle. 
Accidentally it was discovered that the ammunition 
of the Americans was nearly expended. The neck 

* " Soldier and Patriots," by F. W. Owen, p 93 ; Irving's " Life 
of Washington," vol. i. p. 478. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 211 

of the peninsula was so swept by the cannonade 
from the ships, that no fresh supply of powder could 
be sent to them. Preparations were accordingly 
made by the British to carry the works by the 
bayonet. 

The soldiers were exceedingly reluctant again to 
ascend the hill, in the face of the deadly fire which 
they knew awaited them. They were goaded on by 
the swords of the officers. Again the Americans 
reserved their fire till the assailants were within a 
few feet of the ramparts. A numerous volley of 
leaden hail fell upon them. Officers and men were 
alike struck down by wounds and death. General 
Howe was struck by a bullet on the foot. 

But alas ! the Americans had fired their last 
round. Their ammunition was exhausted. The 
British veterans, with fixed bayonets, rushed over 
the earthworks. A desperate fight now took place, 
hand to hand. Stones were hurled. Muskets were 
clubbed. Men clenched each other in the frenzied, 
deadly strife. The Americans, greatly outnum- 
bered by their assailants, who had ammunition in 
abundance, were now compelled to retire. They 
cut their way through two divisions of the British, 
who were in their rear to intercept their retreat. 
As they were slowly retiring, disputing the ground 
inch by inch, they were assailed by a constant fire 



212 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

from the British. It was here that the patriot 
Warren fell, A musket ball passed through his 
head, and he dropped dead upon the spot. The 
retreating Americans crossed the neck, still exposed 
to a raging fire from ships and batteries. The 
bleeding, exhausted foe, did not venture to pursue. 
The victors took possession of Bunker Hill, prompt- 
ly threw up additional intrenchments, and hurried 
across, from Boston, that they might firmly hold 
the works. 

The British admitted, in their returns of the 
battle, that out of a detachment of two thousand 
men they lost, in killed and wounded, one thousand 
and fifty four. This amounts to the astonishing 
proportion of more than one-half of the number 
engaged. The loss of the Americans did not exceed 
four hundred and fifty. Coolly the historian writes 
these numbers. Calmly the reader peruses them. 
But who can imagine the anguish which penetrated 
these American homes and those distant homes 
in England, where widows and orphans wept in grief 
which could not be allayed ! ^ 

The Americans were defeated. But it was a 
defeat which exercised, over the public mind, the 

*■ The reader, who is interested in obtaining a more minute detail 
of the incidents of this momentous battle, will find them quite fully 
presented, in Mr, Irving's excellent " Life of Washington." 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 213 

effect of a victory. The British were victors. But 
Britain admitted, that a few more such victories 
would bring the British empire in America to a 
close. 

The news of the battle of Bunker Hill swept 
the land like a whirlwind. Washington was greatly 
encouraged, as he learned of the heroism with 
which the Americans had conducted the conflict. 
As he rapidly advanced, on his journey, escorted 
by his brilliant cavalcade, the inhabitants of all the 
towns and villages, on his way, crowded the streets 
to gaze upon him. 

The Americans were exposed to great embarrass- 
ments. The governors of nearly all the provinces 
were Englishmen, and bitterly hostile to the 
American cause. They had great poHtical power, 
and also much social influence over the most opu- 
lent and aristocratic portions of the community. 
In all the cities there were large numbers, of the 
higher classes, whose sympathies were earnestly with 
the crown of England. Many of these would shrink 
from no crime to thwart the plans of the Americans. 
It was therefore needful that Washington should 
travel with a strong guard. 

Governor Tryon, of New York, was intense in his 
hostility to the " rebels," as he called all the Ameri- 
cans who were opposed to the despotism of Great 



214 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Britain. He was then in England, but would soon 
return, with ships and armies, to hold New York 
bay, and the Hudson, in subserviency to the British. 
He might thus cut off all intercourse between the 
eastern and southern provinces. Anxiously General 
Washington discussed this matter, as he rode along, 
with his companions, Generals Lee and Schuyler.* 

Washington decided to intrust the command of 
New York to General Schuyler. At Newark, New 
Jersey, a delegation met Washington to conduct him 
to the city of New York. They informed him that a 
ship had just arrived from England and that Gov- 
ernor Tiyon, who was on board, was every hour 
expected to land. How would these antagonistic 
forces meet, at the same port — the British colonial 
governor, and the American military commander! 

Washington reached the city first. The idea of 
American Independence of the British crown had 
not yet been uttered, if even it had occurred to any 
one. It was evident that the authority of Congress 
and the authority of the British Crown would soon 
meet in conflict. What the result would be, no one 

General Schuyler was a native-born American, descended from 
one of the most illustrious families. He had a large estate, near 
Saratoga, and was highly educated, particularly in all branches relat- 
ing to military science. He was a tried patriot. In (longress and 
elsewhere he had proved himself the able and eloquent advocate of 
American rights. See Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. (Mount 
Vernon Edition) p. 158. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 21$ 

could tell. Peter Van Burgh Livingston, president 
of the New York Assembly, addressing Washington 
in a very cautious speech of congratulation, said : 

" Confiding in you, sir, and the worthy generals 

immediately under your command, we have the most 

flattering hopes of success, in the glorious struggle 

for American liberty. And we have the fullest 

assurance that, whenever this important contest shall 

be decided, by that fondest wish of each American 

1 soul, an accommodation with our another country^ you 

I will cheerfully resign the important deposit commit- 

I ted into your hands, and reassume the character of 

I our worthiest citizen." 

I Washington, in entire harmony with these views, 

I replied, *' As to the fatal but necessary operations of 

war, when we assumed the soldier we did not lay 
aside the citizen. And we shall most sincerely 
rejoice, with you, in that happy hour, when the 
establishment of American liberty, on the most firm 
and solid foundation, shall enable us to return to our 
private stations, in the bosom of a free, peaceful, and 
happy country." 

Washington reached the city of New York about 
noon. Governor Tryon landed about eight o'clock in 
the evening. He was received with military honors, 
and by great demonstrations of loyalty by those 
devoted to the crown. The Mayor and Common 



2l6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Council received him respectfully. Any demonstra- 
tions of hostility would have been insane. A large 
British ship-of-war, Aria, the was at anchor opposite 
the city, ready, at any signal, with its terrible bat- 
teries, to open fire, which would inevitably lay every 
building in ashes. It was also rumored that a large 
British force was on the passage from England. 

Washington pressed rapidly on toward the army 
in Cambridge. As he left General Schuyler behind, 
narrowly to watch the progress of affairs, he said 
to him : 

'' If forcible measures are judged necessary 
respecting the Governor, I should have no difficulty 
in ordering them, if the Continental Congress were 
not sitting. But as that is the case, and the seizing 
of a governor quite a new thing. I must refer you to 
that body for direction." 

Washington left New York on the 26th. General 
Lee accompanied him. He was escorted as far as 
Kingsbridge by several companies of mihtia, and a 
squadron of Philadelphia light horse. The Massachu- 
setts Assembly was in session at Watertown. They 
were making vigorous preparations for the reception 
of the Commander-in-Chief. The residence of the 
president of the Provincial Congress, at Cambridge, 
was fitted up for his head-quarters. * As Washing- 

♦ The house stood on the Watertown road, about half a mile 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 21 J 

ton pressed on his way, he was escorted from town 
to town by volunteer companies and cavalcades of 
gentlemen. 

On the 2d of July he reached Watertown, where 
he was greeted with the warmest congratulations, 
while, at the same time, he was told that he had 
come to take command of fragmentary bands of 
soldiers, poorly equipped, entirely unorganized, and 
quite ignorant of military discipline. It was three 
miles to the central camp in Cambridge. 

Washington rode over, escorted by a troop of 
light horse and a cavalcade of citizens. His fame 
had preceded him. Officers,' soldiers, and citizens 
were alike eager to see the man, in whose hands the 
destinies of our country seemed to be placed. No 
one was disappointed. Mrs. John Adams, one of the 
noblest of the patriotic women of America, witnessed 
the scene. She wrote to her husband, who had 
nominated him for this important post : 

from the college. It subsequently was long known as the Cragie 
House. " The Cragie House is associated with American literature, 
through some of its subsequent occupants. Mr. Edward Everett 
resided in it the first year or two after his marriage. Later, Mr. 
Jared Sparks, during part of the time that he was preparing his 
collection of Washington's writings, editing a volume or two in the 
very room from which they were written. Next came Mr. Worces- 
ter, author of the pugnacious dictionary, andof many excellent books. 
And lastly, Longfellow, the poet, who purchased the house of the 
heirs of Mr. Cragie, and refitted it." — Irving's Life of Washington, 
Mount Vernon Edition, vol. i. p. 167. 
10 



2l8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

" Dignity, ease, and complacency, the gentleman 
and the soldier, look agreeably blended in him. 
Modesty marks every line and feature of his face. 
These lines of Dryden instantly occurred to me. 

" ' Mark his majestic fabric ! He's a temple 
Sacred by birth, and built by hands divine ; 
His soul's the deity that lodges there ; 
Nor is the pile unworthy of the God.' " 

Washington was fully awake to the fearful 
responsibilities now devolving upon him. General 
Gage held his head-quarters in Boston, sustained by 
a squadron of light horse and several companies 
of infantry and artillery. The bulk of his army had 
taken its stand on Bunker's Hill, where the troops 
were busy in strengthening their works, so as to 
render the position impregnable. Another strong 
party was on the neck of land between Boston and 
Roxbury. A deep intrenchment ran across the 
neck, which was bristling with cannon, and with the 
bayonets of the regular troops who guarded all the 
approaches. A fleet of British war ships was in the 
harbor. 

The American lines extended entirely around 
Boston and Charleston, from Mystic river to 
Dorchester. The distance was about twelve miles. 
Plain farmers, many of them in their working attire, 
had seized their muskets, and, in the month of June 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 219 

SO important to all their agricultural interests, had 
abandoned their fields to. engage in the revolting 
employments of war. They were gathering from 
Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and 
New Hampshire. From the far-away banks of the 
Potomac George Washington had come, to place 
himself at the head of the sons of New England, 
struggling in the defence of the dearest of all 
earthly rights. 

On the morning of the 3d of July Washington 
took formal command of the army. It was a solemn 
hour. There was no boasting ; no exultation. The 
troops were drawn up, upon Cambridge Common. 
An immense crowd of spectators had assembled 
from the country all around. Washington, as he rode 
upon the ground, was accompanied by General Lee 
and a numerous suite. He took his stand under 
the shade of a venerable elm, probably one of the 
primeval forest when he reviewed those heroic men, 
who had no love for war, whose hearts were yearning 
for their peaceful homes, but who were ready to 
sacrifice life itself rather than surrender their infant 
country to the despotism of its ruthless oppressor. 

The British army in Boston amounted to eleven 
thousand five hundred men. They were in the 
highest state of discipUne, under able and experi- 
enced generals, and abundantly supplied with all 



220 GEORGE WASHINGTON, 

the best arms, ammunition, and material of war 
which Europe could afford. Washington had 
under his command, fit for duty, only fourteen thou- 
sand five hundred men, with no general organiza- 
tion, no supply of stores or clothing, no military 
chest, and but wretchedly supplied with arms and 
ammunition.^ It is one of the marvels of history 
that this motley assembly of farmers and mechanics 
was not swept away, before the British regulars, 
like withered leaves before autumnal gales. 

Washington convened a council of war. It was 
promptly decided, without a dissenting voice, that 
at the least twenty-two thousand men were needed, 
to hold the posts which the Americans then occu- 
pied. And those posts must be held, or British 
marauders would range the country, plundering 
villages and farm-houses. 

Washington was appalled to find that there was 
not powder enough in the whole camp to supply 
nine cartridges to a man. Had the British known 
this, they might have marched from their intrench- 
ments in Roxbury and Charlestown, and have 
utterly annihilated the American army, leaving not 
a vestige behind. 

Washington rode to various eminences, from 
which he carefully reconnoitred the British posts. 

* Sparks' " Life of Washington," 136. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 221 

His military eye revealed to him the skill with 
which everything was conducted by his powerful 
foe. Of the troops under Washington's command, 
nine thousand were from Massachusetts. The 
remainder were from the other New England 
colonies. The encampment of the Rhode Island 
troops attracted the eye of Washington and won his 
admiration. General Nathaniel Greene led them. 
His soldiers were admirably drilled. Order and 
discipline prevailed, under his rule, unsurpassed in 
any of the British camps. ''^ 
i The troops, in general, were destitute of suitable 

clothing. And there was no money in the military 
chest. A British soldier could be instantly recog- 
nized, by his brilliant scarlet costume. Washington 
showed his knowledge of human nature, by judging 
that any uniform, however simple in its nature, 
which at once revealed the American patriot, would 
prove a strong bond of union with the troops. He 
wrote to Congress, urging that ten thousand hunt- 

* " General Green was a son of Rhode Island, of Quaker parentage. 
He was a man of fine personal appearance, of excellent character, 
and of superior natural abilities. His thirst for knowledge led him to- 
avail himself of every opportunity for mental improvement. He 
thus became an intelligent gentleman. His troops were pronounced 
to be the best disciplined and the best appointed in the army. He 
stepped at once into confidence of the Commander-in-Chief, which 
he never forfeited, but became one of his most attached, faithful, and 
efficient coadjutors." — Soldiers and Patriots, p. 96. 



222 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ing shirts should be immediately sent to the army, 
as the cheapest dress which could be promptly 
furnished. 

It is a little remarkable that the Massachusetts 
troops were the most destitute of all. The fact, as 
expressed by Washington, proved highly honorable 
to that heoroic State. He wrote : 

'' This unhappy and devoted province has been 
so long in a state of anarchy, and the yoke has been 
laid so heavily on it, that great allowances are to be 
made, for troops raised under such circumstances. 
The deficiency of numbers, discipline, and stores can 
only lead to this conclusion, that their spirit has 
exceeded their strength^ i 

The religious spirit which animated many of these [ 

patriots may be inferred from the following extract 
from a letter, written to General Washington at this 
time, by Governor Trumbull of Connecticut. " May 
the God of the armies of Israel shower down the 
blessings of divine providence on you ; give you 
wisdom and fortitude ; cover your head in the day 
of battle and danger; add success; convince our 
enemies of their mistaken measures, and that all 
their attempts to deprive these colonies of their 
inestimable constitutional rights and liberties are 
injurious and vain." 

It was necessary for Washington, as Commander- 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 223 

in-Chief, to maintain considerable state. Every day 
some of his officers dined with him. Though natu- 
rally very social, his mind was so entirely engrossed 
by the vast responsibilities which rested upon him, 
that he had no time to devote to those social indul- 
gences of the table of which many are so fond^ He 
was extremely simple in his diet. Often his dinner 
consisted of a bowl of baked apples and milk. 
Having finished his frugal repast, he early excused 
himself from the table, leaving some one of his 
officers to preside in his stead. 

His first aide-de-camp was Colonel Mifflin, a very 
accomplished gentleman from Philadelphia. His 
second was John Trumbull, who afterward obtained 
much renown as an historical painter. His noble 
father, Jonathan Trumbull, Governor of Connecticut, 
was one of Washington's most efficient cooperators. 
He was the only one of the colonial governors, 
appointed by the crown, who, at the commencement 
of the revolution,, proved true to the cause of the 
Americans. * Colonel John Trumbull, in allusion to 
his appointment, wrote : 

*' I now suddenly found myself in the family of 
one of the most distinguished and dignified men of, 
the age ; surrounded, at his table, by the principal 

* Irving's " Life of Washington," Mount Vernon Edition, vol. i. 
p. 166. 



224 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

officers of the army, and in constant intercourse 
with them. It was further my duty to receive 
company, and to do the honors of the house to 
many of the first people of the country, of both 
sexes." 

Mr. Joseph Reed, of Philadelphia, accepted the 
post of secretary to the Commander-in-Chief. He 
was a lawyer of high repute, having studied in Amer- 
ica, and at the Temple, in London. His practice was 
extensive and lucrative ; and his rank, culture, and 
refined manners rendered him a favorite in the 
highest circles in Philadelphia, where he was in 
intimate association with the families of British 
officers and other strong adherents of the crown. 

Many of his friends considered it the height of 
infatuation that he, at thirty-five years of age, should 
abandon his young wife, his happy home, and his 
profession, in which he was rapidly accumulating 
wealth, for the hardships and perils of the Revolu- 
tionary Camp. To their remonstrances he replied : 

*' I have no inclination to be hanged for half- 
treason. When a subject draws his sword against his 
prince, he must cut his way through, if he means to 
•sit down in safety. I have taken too active a part 
in what may be called the civil part of opposition, to 
renounce, without disgrace, the public cause, when 
it seems to lead to. danger; and I have the most 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR 22$ 

sovereign contempt for the man who can plan 
measures he has not the spirit to execute." 

Washington, In the terrible hours which he was 
to encounter, needed a bosom friend, who could be 
In true sympathy with him, and to whom he could 
confide all his solicitudes. Such a friend, intelligent, 
courageous, warm-hearted, polished In manners, of 
pure life and pure lips, he found In Joseph Reed. 
Lee, Putnam, and Gates ^ were very efficient 
army officers, but they were not congenial heart- 
companions for Washington. The fearless, energetic 
Connecticut general was very popular with the 
soldiers. He was invariably called ''Old Put." 
That nick-name alone sufficiently reveals his char- 
acter. Washington highly prized his services. 
Whatever works he undertook were pushed forward 
with wonderful energy. Washington one day said 
to him : 

" You seem. General, to have the faculty of In- 
fusing your own spirit into all the workmen you 
employ." 

The arrival of Washington Infused astonishing 

* " Horatio Gates was an Englishman who adopted the cause of 
America. He had distinguished himself in the West Indies. But Eng- 
land did not recognize his claims, as much as he thought she ought to 
have done. He therefore went out to America and bought land in 
Virginia. When the war began, he seemed to see in it a more secure 
means to self-advancement than he had found before, and therefore 
he joined in it." — Soldier and JPatriot, p^^. 



226 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

energy into the army. His engineering skill enabled 
him to select the most important strategic points of 
defence. Every man was at work, from morning 
till night. All Cambridge and Charlestown were 
covered with camps, forts, and intrenchments. 
The line of circumvallation was so extended, that 
it soon became quite impossible for the British to 
cut their way through. 

There were three grand divisions of the army. 
The right wing was stationed on the heights of 
Roxbury. The left wing was on Winter and Pros- 
pect Hill. The centre was at Cambridge. Fleet 
horses were kept at several points, ready saddled, 
to convey instant intelligence of any movement of 
the British. Washington was every day traversing 
these lines, aud superintending all the works. 

Each regiment was summoned every morning, 
to attend prayers. A day was appointed, by Con- 
gress, of fasting and prayer, to obtain the favor of 
Heaven. .Washington enforced the strict observance 
of the day. All labor was suspended. Officers and 
soldiers were required to attend divine service. But 
they were all armed and equipped, ready for im- 
mediate action."^ 

* " Lee, we are told, scofifed with his usual profaiieness. Heaven, 
he said, was ever found favorable to strong battalions. Lee was an 
Englishman by birth. The Indians called him, from his impetuosity, 
Boiling WaterT — Graydon's Memoi7's, p. 138. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 22/ 

Great commotion was excited, in the camp, one 
morning, when fourteen hundred sharpshooters 
came marching upon the ground, from Pennsylvania, 
Maryland, and Virginia. They were all tall men, 
and made a very imposing appearance, in their 
picturesque costume, of fringed hunting shirts and 
round hats. It was said that, while on the rapid 
march, these men could hit a mark seven inches in 
diameter, at the distance of two hundred and sixty 
yards.* 

The British were in entire command of the sea. 
They were continually landing, from their ships, 
at unprotected points, and inflicting a vast amount 
of injury. It was impossible to prevent this. The 
ocean was, to these foes, what the forest had been 
to the savage. One or two ships would suddenly 
appear, send an armed party on shore in their boats, 
plunder, burn, and kill at their pleasure, and long 
before any military force could be assembled to 
resist them, their marauding fleet would have disap- 
peared beyond the horizon of the sea. 

Washington had soon cut off all possible com- 
munication between the British, in Boston, and the 
back country. He ordered all the live stock, on 
the coast, to be driven into the interior, beyond the 
reach of plundering parties from the men-of-war's 

* Thatcher's " Military Journal," p. 37. 



228 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

boats. Famine began to prevail in Boston. But 
the position of the American army was still perilous 
in the highest degree. They were, notwithstanding 
Washington's most intense endeavor, almost with- 
out ammunition. The supply was reduced, as we 
have said, to nine cartridges to a man. And thus 
for a fortnight they boldly faced the well-supplied 
armies of Great Britain. At length a partial supply 
from New Jersey put an end to this fearful risk. 

General Gage was treating his American 
prisoner as outlaws, throwing them indiscriminately 
into common jails, and treating them with the 
utmost barbarity. Washington was personally ac- 
quainted with Gage. He had led the advance- 
guard in Braddock's defeat. Washington wrote to 
him, in respectful but earnest terms, remonstrating 
against this inhumanity, and stating that, if it were 
continued, he should be under the very painful 
necessity of retaliating. 

Gates returned a defiant and insolent reply, in 

which he spoke of the American patriots as rebels 

who, by the laws of England, were '' destined to the 

cord," and that he acknowledged no rank which 

was not derived from the king." ^ 

* " These priYiciples set at naught all the rules of honorable war- 
fare ; and indicated that the highest officers in the American army, 
if captured, would be treated as culprits." — Sparks' Lt/e of Wash- 
ington, p. 142. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 229 

Washington restrained his indignation, and 
again wrote to his unmannerly foe, in the courteous 
language of a gentleman. In this admirable letter 
he said : 

" I addressed you, sir, on the nth instant, in terms 
which gave the fairest scope for that humanity and 
politeness which were supposed to form a part of 
your character. 

'' Not only your officers and soldiers have been 
treated with the tenderness due to fellow-citizens, 
but even those execrable parricides, whose coun- 
sels and aid have deluged their country with blood, 
have been protected from the fury of a justly en- 
raged people. 

" You affect, sir, to despise all rank not derived 
from the same source with your own. I cannot con- 
ceive one more honorable than that which flows from 
the uncorrupted choice of a brave and free people, 
the purest source and original fountain of all power. 

" I shall now, sir, close my correspondence with 
you, perhaps forever. If your officers, our prisoners, 
receive a treatment from me different from that I 
wish to show them, they and you will remember the 
occasion of it.""^ 

In conformity with these views Washington 

* See this correspondence, more fully given in Irving's " Life of 
Washington," vol. i. Mount Vernon edition, p. 172, 173. 



230 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

issued orders that the British officers who were at 
large on parole, should be confined in Northampton 
jail. But his humane heart recoiled from punishing 
the innocent for the crimes of the guilty. The order 
was revoked, and they remained at large, as before.* 

Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold urged very 
strenuously upon Congress the importance of an 
expedition for the conquest of Canada. There were 
about seven hundred British regulars occupying 
different posts in that province. The Indians 
generally loved the French. But they hated the 
English, who had always treated them with con- 
tempt, which they keenly felt. Many of these chiefs 
were now eager to join the Americans against the 
EngHsh, though the rich government of Great 
Britain could offer them far higher bribes. A 
delegation of the highest chiefs, from several of the 
important tribes on the St. Lawrence, visited Wash- 
ington at Cambridge. They were received with 
those tokens of respect which their rank, character, 
and mission demanded. 

Washington invited them all to dine with him 

* " The order was countermanded while the prisoners were on the 
road to Northampton. 'The General further requests/ wrote his 
secretary Colonel Reed, ' that every other indulgence, consistent 
with their security, may be shown to them. The general does not 
doubt that your conduct toward them will be such as to compel their 
grateful acknowledgments that Americans are as merciful as they 
are brave.' " — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 142. 



PROGRESS OF THE WAR. 23 1 

and his leadlncr officers. It was remarked that in 

dignity of demeanor and propriety of deportment 

they conducted themselves Hke men who from 

infancy had been accustomed to the usages of good 

society. A council was held. The chiefs offered, in 

behalf of their several tribes, to cooperate in any 

movement for the invasion of Canada. 

It was an embarrassing offer. Congress had 

voted not to enter into any alHance with the Indians 

unless the British should call the savages to their 

aid. But the chief of the St. Francis Indians 

declared that Colonel Guy Carleton, who commanded" 

the British forces in Canada, had offered them large 

I rewards if they would take up arms against the 

I Americans. An express was sent to General 

Schuyler at Albany, to ascertain whether the 

British were endeavoring to enlist the Indians on 

their side. It so happened that General Schuyler 

1 was then attendins: a conference of the chiefs of 

I 

I the Six Nations. He declared that there was no 

I question whatever that General Carleton and his 

j agents were attempting to rouse the Indian tribes. 

' It was decided that while General Schuyler should 

j conduct troops, by the way of Ticonderoga upon Mon- 

treal, General Arnold should lead an expedition, of 
about twelve hundred men, up the valley of the Ken- 
nebec, in Maine, to make an assault upon Quebec. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

The Siege of Boston. 

The Challenge — Bold Plan of Washington — The Expedition to Can- 
ada — The Conflagration of Falmouth — Barbarism of the Foe — 
The Captured Brigantine — A gleam of Joy — Cruel treatment of 
Ethan Allen — Correspondence with General Howe — Efficiency 
of " Old Put " — A Servile War proposed by Dunmore — Lady 
Washington arrives at the Camp — The Tumult Quelled—Peril 
of the diminished Army — New York menaced — Deplorable con- 
dition of the English — Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights 
— Boston Evacuated. 

Several weeks passed away, while Washington 
vigorously prosecuted the siege of the British troops 
in Boston. Having strengthened his intrenchments, 
and obtained a sufficient supply of ammunition, he 
was quite desirous of inciting them to make an 
attack upon his lines. A rumor reached him, the 
latter part of August, that General Gage, annoyed by 
the scarcity of provisions, was preparing for a sortie, 
in great strength. Washington endeavored to pro- 
voke the movement by offering a sort of challenge. 

He accordingly, one night detached fourteen 
hundred men, to seize upon an eminence within 
musket shot of an important part of the British lines 
upon Charleston Neck. He hoped that the enemy, 



i 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 233 

upon discovering the movement, would immediately 
advance to drive them back ; and that thus a gen- 
eral engagement might be brought on. 

The task was executed with great secrecy and 
skill. With the earliest dawn, the British, to their 
great surprise, saw the eminence crowned with 
quite formidable ramparts. But Gage had learned a 
lesson at Bunker Hill. He knew Washington, and 
was well aware that he was a foe to be feared. The 
proud Englishman did not venture to accept the 
challenge. It must have been to him a great humil- 
iation. He kept his troops carefully sheltered behind 
their works, and contented himself with a bombard- 
ment, from his heavy guns, which did but little 
injury. The Americans completed and held posses- 
sion of this advanced post. 

Washington found it difficult to account for the 
fact that the British officers, at the head of their 
large and well-appointed troops, allowed themselves 
to be hedged in by undisciplined bands of American 
farmers, of whose military prowess they had loudly 
proclaimed their contempt. He wrote : 

" Unless the ministerial troops in Boston are 
waiting for reinforcements, I cannot devise what 
they are staying there for, nor why, as they affect to 
despise the Americans, they do not come forth and 
put an end to the conflict at once." 



234 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It is probable that Gates imagined that Wash- 
ington's troops, composed of men who loved their 
homes, and who, as he knew, had enlisted only till 
the 1st of January, would, as soon as the snows and 
storms of winter came, disperse. He could then, 
with his fresh troops, sweep the province of Massa- 
chusetts at his will.* 

The country could not understand the reason 
for the apparent inactivity of the American army. 
Washington was very desirous for a battle. But a 
decisive defeat would prove the entire ruin of the 
national hopes. Still some active movement seemed 
essential to reanimate the people. After revolving 
the circumstances in his mind very carefully, he sum- 
moned a council of war, and proposed that a simul- 
taneous attack should be made upon the enemy in 
Boston, by crossing the water in boats, and, at the 
same time, impetuously assailing their lines on the 
Neck. This was indeed a very bold measure. 
Washington must have had great confidence in his 
men, to advance, with inexperienced militia, against 
British regulars behind their ramparts. But it is 
very certain that he had weighed all the chances, 

* " In fact they (the British) never meditated an attack, unless rein- 
forcements should arrive. General Gage wrote to. Lord Dartmouth, 
that such an attempt, if successful, would be fruitless, as there were 
neither horses nor carriages for transportation, and no other end 
could be answered than to drive the Americans from one stronghold 
to another." — Sparks' Li/e of Washington, p. 146. 



THE SIEGE OF B05T0X. 235 

and that he had made ever>^ possible preparation to 
guard against a decisive disaster. 

*' The success of such an enterprise," he said, 
"depends, I well know, upon the all-wise Disposer 
of events ; and it is not within the reach of human 
wisdom to foretell the issue. But if the prospect is 
fair the undertaking is justifiable." 

The council was held on the nth of September. 
Eight generals were present. They unanimously 
decided that the project was too hazardous to be 
undertaken, at least for the present." Washington 
now turned his attention to the expedition into 
Canada. Eleven hundred men were detached, for 
the purpose, and encamped on Cambridge Common. 
Aaron Burr, then a brilliant young man of twenty 
years, volunteered for the service. Thus he entered 
upon his varied, guilty, and melancholy career. 
Benedict Arnold, whose reputation for valor was 
established, was intrusted with the command. 
The instructions which Washington gave are charac- 
teristic of that noblest of men. The following 
extracts will show their spirit : 

" I charge you, and the officers and soldiers 

* " The enterprise," Washington wrote, "was thought too dan- 
gerous. Perhaps it was. Perhaps the irksomeness of my ituation led 
me to undertake more than could be warranted by prudence. I did 
Dot think so. And I am sure yet that the enterprise, if it had been 
undertaken with resolution, must have succeeded. Without it, any 
would fail." — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 160. 



33^ GEORGE WASHINGTON. ' 

under your command, as you value your own safety 
and honor and the favor and esteem of your country, 
that you consider yourselves as marching, not 
through the country of an enemy, but of our friends 
and brethren ; for such the inhabitants of Canada 
and the Indian nations have approved themselves, 
in this unhappy contest between Great Britain and 
America ; and that you check, by every motive and 
fear of punishment, every attempt to plunder or 
insu-lt the inhabitants of Canada. 

" Should an America'n soldier be so base and 
infamous as to injure any Canadian or Indian, in 
his person or property, I do most earnestly enjoin 
you to bring him to such severe and exemplary 
punishment as the ^enormity of the crime may re- 
quire. Should it extend to death itself, it will not 
be disproportioned to its guilt, at such a time and 
in such a cause. 

" I also give in charge to you, to avoid all dis- 
respect to the religion of the country and its cere- 
monies. While we are contending for our own 
liberty, we should be very cautious^ not to violate 
the rights of conscience in others ; ever considering 
that God alone is the judge of the hearts of men, 
and to Him only, in this case, are they answerable.* 

* As Canada was originally settled by the French, the Roman 
Catholic religion almost universally prevailed there. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 237 

" If Lord Chatham's son should be in Canada, 
and, in any way, fall into your power, you are 
enjoined to treat him with all possible, deference and 
respect. You cannot err in paying too much honor 
to the sory of so illustrious a character and so true 
a friend to America." 

On the 13th of September, Arnold struck his 
tents and commenced his long march through the 
almost unbroken wilderness. We have not space 
here to detail the sufferings and romantic incidents 
of this unsuccessful expedition. Though wisely 
planned, and energetically executed, untoward 
circumstances, which could not have been foreseen, 
• prevented its success. The conduct of Arnold was 

approved by Washington and applauded by the 
country generally.* 

The time was rapidly approaching when the 
Americans must enlist a new army. The Connec- 
ticut and Rhode Island troops were engaged to 
serve only till the month of December. None were 
enlisted beyond the 1st of January. Thus Wash- 
ington would find himself entirely without troops, 

* General Schuyler wrote to Washington, " I wish I had no 
occasion to send my dear general this melancholy account. My 
amiable friend, the gallant Montgomery, is no more. The brave 
Arnold is wounded ; and we have met with a severe check in our 
attack upon Quebec. May Heaven be graciously pleased that this 
misfortune terminate here. I tremble for our people in Canada." 



238 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

unless new levies could be raised. The British, in 
Boston, cut off from supplies by land, were fitting 
out small armed vessels to ravage the coasts. New- 
port, Rhode Island, was the rendezvous of a strong 
fleet of the enemy. Stonington was cannonaded. 
There was everywhere distress and consternation. 
The British treated the Americans as if they were 
criminals beyond the reach of mercy. 

To check these marauding expeditions, Massa- 
chusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut, each fitted 
out two armed vessels. They cruised along the 
whole coast of New England, to the waters of the 
St. Lawrence. Portland, then called Falmouth, was 
one of the most heroic of the New England seaports. 
Its sturdy inhabitants, by their proclaimed patriot- 
ism, had become especially obnoxious to the enemy. 
Several armed vessels were sent to lay the defence- 
less town in ashes. Two hours were given to 
remove the sick and the infirm. Lieutenant Mount, 
in command of this cruel expedition, entirely unau- 
thorized by the rules of civilized warfare, announced 
that he was instructed to burn down every town 
between Boston and Halifax, and that New York, 
he supposed, was already destroyed.* 

* " The British ministry have, in latter days, been exculpated from 
the charge of issuing such a desolating order as that said to have been 
reported by Lieutenant Mount. The orders, under which that officer 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 239 

The terrific bombardment was commenced about 
half-past nine o'clock, on the morning of the I2th of 
October. One hundred and twenty-nine dwelling- 
houses, and two hundred and twenty-eight stores, 
were burned.* In view of this barbarism Washing- 
ton wrote : 

'' The desolation and misery, which ministerial 
vengeance had planned, in contempt of every 
principle of humanity, and so lately brought on 
the town of Falmouth, I know not how sufficiently 
to commiserate ; nor can my compassion for the 
general suffering be conceived beyond the true 
measure of my feelings." 

General Greene wrote, " O, could the Congress 
behold the distress and wretched condition of the 
poor inhabitants, driven from the seaport towns, 
it must, it would, kindle a blaze of indignation 
against the commissioned pirates and licensed 
robbers. People begin heartily to wish a decla- 
ration of independence." 

Though a hundred years have passed away since 
these deeds of wanton and demoniac cruelty, the 
remembrance of them does now, and will forever 
excite the emotion of every human heart against 
the perpetrators of such crimes. The families of 

acted, we are told, emanated from General Gage and Admiral 
Graves." — Ir\dng's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 188. 
* " Holmes' Annals," vol. ii. p. 220. 



240 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

every town on the coast were in terror. Mothers 
and maidens, pale and trembling, feared every 
morning that, before night, they might hear the 
bombardment of those dreadful guns. 

And these were the crimes which the govern- 
ment of Great Britain was committing, that it might 
compel the Americans to submit to any tax which 
Great Britain might impose upon them. There was 
no mystery about this war. '' Submit yourselves to 
us to be taxed as we please," said England. " If you 
do not we will, with our invincible armies, sweep 
your whole country with fire and blood." 

At Portsmouth, which was daily menaced, there 
was a fortification of some strength. Washington 
sent General Sullivan there to assist the inhabitants 
in their defence. Washington wrote : 

" I expect every hour to hear that Newport has 
shared the same fate of unhappy Falmouth." * 

Gage was recalled by the British government. 
The battle of Bunker Hill and the siege of their 
troops, in Boston, mortified the English. f A com- 
mittee of Congress visited Cambridge to confer 
with Washington. The British in Boston could be 
bombarded, but not without danger of laying the 
city in ashes. After several conferences, reaching 

* " American Archives," vol. iii. p. 1145. 

f " Poor Gage is to be the scapegoat, for what was a reason against 
employing him — incapacity." — Horace Walpole. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 241 

through four days, it was decided that an attack 
upon Boston would be inexpedient. Congress had, 
however, voted to raise a new army, of a Httle over 
twenty-two thousand men, for one year. Mr. Reed, 
Washington's highly valued and beloved secretary, 
found that his private concerns demanded his 
return to Philadelphia. 

General Howe succeeded General Gage in Bos- 
ton. He was instructed, by his government, that 
he was commissioned to quell the rebellion of 
traitors, who merited the scaffold. In accordance 
with these principles he conducted the war. Great 
contempt was manifested by the British officers, for 
every form of religion, excepting that of the church 
of England. The Old South Church was converted 
into a riding school, for Burgoyne's light dragoons. 
The North Church was torn down, for fuel. Howe 
denounced the penalty of death upon any one who 
should attempt to leave Boston without his per- 
mission. The inhabitants were commanded to arm 
themselves, under British officers, to maintain order. 

Throughout the country the tories were becoming 
more and more defiant, and open in their opposition 
to the American cause. The ice of winter would 
soon so bridge the bays, that the British troops, in 
Boston, could, unimpeded, march from their warm 
barracks, to assail any portion of the extended Amer- 
II 



242 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ican lines. The annoyances of Washington were 
indescribable. It was very difficult to find men ready 
to enlist. The sentiment of patriotism, as it glowed 
in the bosom of George Washington, was a very 
different emotion from that which glimmered in the 
heart of the poor, obscure farmer's boy, who was 
to peril life and limb upon the field of battle, and 
who, if he fell, would soon be as entirely forgotten 
as would be the cart-horse he might be driving. 

Amid these scenes of toil, trouble, and grief, 
the American schooner Lee, under Captain Manly, 
which had been sent out by Washington, entered 
Cape Ann. It had captured a large and richly 
freighted English brigantine. Indescribable was the 
joy, when a large and lumbering train of wagons, in 
apparently an interminable line, came rumbling into 
the camp of Cambridge. The wagons were deco- 
rated with flags, and bore a vast quantity of ordnance 
and military stores. 

There were two thousand stand of arms, one 
hundred thousand flints, thirty thousand round shot, 
and thirty-two tons of musket balls. Among the 
ordnance there was a huge brass mortar, of a new 
construction. It weighed three thousand pounds. 
The army gazed upon it with admiration. Putnam 
christened it. Mounting the gun, he dashed a 
bottle of rum upon it, and shouted its new name 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 243 

of Congress. The cheers which rose were heard in 
Boston, and excited much curiosity there to learn 
what could be the occasion for such rejoicing in 
the American camp. 

Soon after this Washington learned that Colonel 
Ethan Allen had been captured near Montreal, and 
had been thrown, by the British General Prescott, 
into prison fettered with irons. He could not have 
been treated more brutally had he been the worst 
of criminals. 

Washington immediately wrote a letter of 
remonstrance to General Howe. In this letter he 
said : 

" I must take the Hberty of informing you that 
whatever treatment Colonel Allen receives, whatever 
fate he undergoes, such exactly shall be the treat- 
ment and fate of Brigadier Prescott, now in our 
hands. The law of retaliation is not only justifi- 
able in the eyes of God and man, but is absolutely 
a duty, in our present circumstances, we owe to our 
relations, friends, and fellow-citizens. 

'' Permit me to add, sir, that we have all the 
highest regard and reverence for your great personal 
qualities and attainments ; and the Americans in 
general esteem it as not the least of their misfor- 
tunes, that the name of Howe, a name so dear to 
them, should appear at the head of the catalogue of 



244 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the instruments employed by a wicked ministry for 
their destruction." * 

Nothing can show more impressively the arrogant 
air assumed by these haughty British officers, than 
Howe's reply to this letter. Having curtly stated 
that he had nothing to do with affairs in Canada 
he wrote : 

" It is with regret, considering the character you 
have always maintained among your friends as a 
gentleman, that I find cause to resent a sentence, 
in the conclusion of your letter, big with invectives 
against my superiors and insulting to myself, which 
should obstruct any farther intercourse between us." 

The humane Americans could not carry out 
their threat. Prescott was taken to Philadelphia, 
and thrown into jail, though not put in irons. As 
his health seemed to be faihng he was released on 
his parole. Thomas Walker, a merchant of Mon- 
treal, wished to ascertain how he was situated. 

** To his great surprise he found Mr. Prescott 

* William Howe was a man of fine presence and of winning 
manners. He was brother of Lord Howe, who fell on the banks of 
Lake George, in the French war. He was one of the most attractive 
of young men, and had, secured, to a wonderful degree, the affection 
of the American people. A sorrowful feeling prevaded the country 
when it found that General William Howe was fighting against the 
Americans at the battle of Bunker's Hill. In an address from Con- 
gress to the people of Ireland it was said, " America is amazed to 
find the name of Plowe on the catalogue of her enemies. She loved 
his brother." 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 245 

lodged in the best tavern of the place ; walking or 
riding at large through Philadelphia and Bucks 
counties, feasting with gentlemen of the first rank 
in the province, and keeping a levee for the recep- 
tion of the grandees." * 

Colonel Allen was held in close confinement and 
chains, until finally he was exchanged for a British 
officer. Washington was indefatigable in strengthen- 
ing his old posts, and seizing new ones which would 
command portions of the enemy's lines. General Put- 
nam was exceedingly officious in these operations. 
The labors of the soldiers, in throwing up these 
redoubts, were often carried on under a continual 
cannonade from the British ships. 

The British became much alarmed. A battery 
was raised on Phipps farm, where the great mortar, 
the Congress, was mounted. A British officer wrote : 

** If the rebels can complete their battery, this 
town will be on fire about our ears a few hours after ; 
all our buildings being of wood or a mixture of wood 
and brick-work. Had the rebels erected their bat- 
tery on the other side of the town, at Dorchester, 
the admiral and all his booms would have made the 
first blaze, and the burning of the town would have 
followed. f If we cannot destroy the rebel battery 

* " American Archives," 4th series, vol. iv. p. 1178. 

f From the heights of Dorchester the admiral's fleet, riding at 



246 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

by our guns, we must march out and take it sword 
in hand." 

One very great embarrassment was the want of 
powder. Washington found it necessary often, to 
submit to a severe cannonading from the foe, with- 
out returning the fire. Prudence required that the 
small amount of powder the Americans had, should 
be reserved to repel direct attacks. The winter 
fortunately proved to be one of unusual mildness. 
One of the Americans officers wrote : 

** Everything thaws here except old Put. He is 
still as hard as ever, crying out for powder, powder, 
powder ; ye gods, give us powder." 

There was great suffering in Virginia. The 
British governor, Lord Dunmore, held the province 
under miHtary rule. Many feared that he would 
send a detachment and lay Mount Vernon in ashes. 
Lady Washington was advised to seek a retreat 
beyond the Blue Ridge. But the armed patriots 
were on the alert. Washington had left the man- 
agement of the large estate under the care of Mr. 
Lund Washington, in whose integrity and abihty he 
had entire confidence. 

To his agent Washington wrote, ^* Let the hos- 

anchor in the harbor, could be bombarded, and destroyed. Then the 
British army might be captured. But this would probably be at the 
expense of laying the whole town in ashes. Lord Admiral Howe was 
brother of Sir William. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 24/ 

pitality of the house, with respect to the poor, be 
kept up. Let no one go hungry a\yay. If any of 
this kind of people should be in want of corn, supply 
their necessities, provided it does not encourage 
them to idleness. And I have no objection to your 
giving my money in charity, to the amount of forty 
or fifty pounds a year, when you think it well 
bestowed. What I mean by having no objections 
is, that it is my desire that it should be done. You 
are to consider that neither myself nor wife is now 
in the way to do these good offices." * 

Mrs. Washington was very lonely, very anx- 
ious, very sad. By invitation of her husband she 
visited him at Cambridge. Her son accompanied 
her, and she travelled with her own horses and 
carriage. She took easy stages, as Washington was 
very careful of his horses, which were remarkable for 
their beauty. 

The pageantry of aristocratic England pervaded 
the higher classes in this country, at that time, much 
more than at the present day. Lady Washington 
was escorted from town to town by guards of honor. 
At Philadelphia she was received like a princess, and 
was detained several days by the hospitalities of the 
patriotic inhabitants. The whole army greeted her 
arrival at Cambridge with acclaim. She entered the 

* Sparks' "Life of Washington," p. 155 



248 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

camp in a beautiful chariot, drawn by four horses. 
Her black postilions were quite gorgeously dressed, 
in liveries of scarlet and white. This was the usual 
style of the magnates of Virginia at that day. 

The presence of Mrs. Washington was of great 
assistance to her husband. She presided over his 
household, and received his guests with great dignity 
and affability. Family prayers were invariably 
observed, morning and evening. On the Sabbath 
Washington punctually attended the church, in 
which he was a communicant. 

A party of Virginia riflemen came to the camp. 
They were a strange looking set of men, in half- 
savage equipments, with deer-skin hunting shirts, 
fringed and ruffled. As they were strolling about, 
they met a party of Marblehead fishermen. To 
the Virginians, the costume of the fishermen was 
grotesque, with tarpauHn hats, flowing trousers, and 
round jackets. 

The two parties began to banter each other. 
There was snow upon the ground ; and snow-balls 
began to fly thickly. The contest grew warm. It 
was a battle between Virginia and Massachusetts. 
Both sides were reinforced. Angry feelings were 
excited. From snow-balls they proceeded to blows. 
It became a serious tumult, in which more than a 
thousand were engaged. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 249 

At this moment Washington appeared, mounted, 
and followed by a single servant. There was some- 
thing in his majestic frame and commanding air 
which impressed the common mind with awe. He 
sprang from his horse, plunged into the thickest of 
the melee, and seizing two of the most brawny- 
Virginians, held them at arm's length, as though 
they had been children, while he administered a very 
severe reproof. The other combatants instantly dis- 
persed. In three minutes there was not one left 
upon the ground.* 

In December a vessel was captured, which was 
conveying supplies, from Lord Dunmore, in Virginia, 
to Boston. In a letter to General Howe, found in 
the vessel. Lord Dunmore urged that the war should 
be transferred from New England to the southern 
States. He said that by liberating and arming the 
negroes, their force could be greatly augmented, 
consternation could be thrown into all the south- 
ern provinces, and victory would thus be speedy 
and sure. The despatch alarmed Washington. He 
said : 

** If this man is not crushed, before spring, he 
will become the most formidable enemy America 
has. His strength will increase as a snow ball." 

This proposition of Dunmore, and the barbarous 

* Memoranda by Hon. Israel Trask. 



250 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

treatment, by the British officers, of the American 
prisoners of war, roused the indignation of General 
Charles Lee to the highest pitch. He wrote : 

" I propose to seize every governor, government 
man, placeman, tory, and enemy to liberty on the 
continent, and to confiscate their estates ; or at least 
lay them under heavy contributions for the public. 
Their persons should be secured in some of the 
interior towns, as hostages for the treatment of those , 
of our party, whom the fortune of war shall throw 
into their hands." ^ 

Had these decisive measures been adopted, it 
would probably have saved many American captives 
from an untold amount of misery. The month of 
December was, to Washington, a period of great 
anxiety and perplexity. The troops, whose time of 
service had expired, were rapidly leaving, and but 
few came to occupy their places. 

On the 1st of January, 1776, the army besieging 
Boston did not exceed ten thousand men. These 
troops had no uniform, were wretchedly supplied 
with arms, and there was a great destitution of 
ammunition in the camp. The genius of Wash- 
ington, in maintaining his post under these circum- 
stances, led even Frederick of Prussia to pronounce 

* Letter of Charles Lee to Richard Henry Lee. — Am. Archives, 
4th series, vol. iv. p. 248, 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 2$ I 

him the ablest general in the world. It was indeed 
evident, during those perilous months, that the 
aid of heaven was not always with the heaviest 
battalions. Washington wrote to Congress: 

"Search the volumes of history through, and I 
much question whether a case similar to ours is to 
be found : namely, to maintain a post, against the 
power of the British troops, for six months together, 
without powder ; and then to have one army dis- 
banded and another raised within musket-shot of 
a reinforced enemy. How it will end, God, in His 
great goodness, will direct. I am thankful for His 
protection to this time." 

Again he wrote, in strains which excite alike our 
sympathy, our reverence, and our love : 

*' The reflection on my situation, and that of 
this army, produces many an unhappy hour, when 
all around me are wrapped in sleep. Few people 
know the predicament we are in, on a thousand 
accounts. I have often thought how much happier 
I should have been if instead of accepting the com- 
mand, under such circumstances, I had taken my 
musket on my shoulder, and entered the ranks ; or, 
if I could have justified the measure to posterity 
and my own conscience, had retired to the back 
country and lived in a wigwam. If I shall be able 
to rise superior to these, and many other difficulties 



252 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

which might be enumerated, I shall most religiously 
believe that the finger of Providence is in it, to 
blind the eyes of our enemies." 

General Henry Knox had been sent to Ticon- 
deroga, at the head of Lake George, to transport 
cannon and ordnance stores to the camp at Cam- 
bridge.* With marvellous energy he had sur- 
mounted difficulties, apparently insurmountable. 
On the 17th of December he wrote to Washington : 

*' Three days ago it was very uncertain whether 
we could get them till next spring. Now, please 
God, they shall go. I have made forty-two exceed- 
ingly strong sleds, and have provided eighty yoke 
of oxen, to drag them as far as Springfield, where 
I shall get fresh cattle to take them to camp." 

Early in January there was great commotion in 
Boston, visible from the heights which the Ameri- 
cans held. A fleet of war-ships and transports, 
crowded with troops and heavily laden with muni- 
tions of war, was leaving the harbor, on some secret 
expedition. 

The plan had been formed, by the British minis- 

* " Knox was one of those providential characters which spring 
up in emergencies, as if they were formed by and for the occasion. 
A thriving bookseller in Boston, he had thrown up business, to take 
up arms for the liberties of his country. He was one of the patriots 
who fought on Bunker Hill ; since when, he had aided in planning 
the defences of the camp before Boston." — Irving's Life of Washing- 
ton, vol. i. p. 190. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 253 

try, to take military possession of New York, Albany, 
and the Hudson river ; to treat as rebels all who 
would not join the king's forces ; to station men-of- 
war, with armed sloops, so as to cut off all commu- 
nication between the southern and the northern 
provinces. 

Colonel Guy Johnson was to raise as large a 
force as possible, of Canadians and Indians, and 
ravage the provinces of Massachusetts, New Hamp- 
shire, and Connecticut. *' This," it was said, 
" would so distract and divide the Provincial forces 
as to render it easy for the British army, at Boston, 
to defeat them, break the spirit of the Massachusetts 
people, depopulate their country, and compel the 
absolute subjection to Great Britain." * 

Sir Henry Clinton f was in command of this 
naval expedition. The fleet entered the harbor of 
New York on a morning of the Sabbath. The whole 
city was thrown into consternation. Many of the 
inhabitants immediately began to move their effects 
back into the country. Through all the hours of 
the day, and of the ensuing night, the rumbling of 
carts was heard in the streets, and boats were pass- 

* " American Archives," 4th series, iii. 1281. 

f General Henry Clinton was grandson of the Earl of Lincoln, 
and son of George Clinton, who had been the crown-appointed gov- 
ernor of New York, for ten years from 1743. — Irving's Life of Wash~ 
iugton, vol. i. p. 163. 



354 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ing up the North and the East rivers, heavily laden 
with goods and merchandise.* 

Clinton professed to be very much surprised at 
the alarm of the inhabitants. He said that he came 
with no hostile intent, but merely to pay a short 
visit to his friend Governor Tryon. 

General Lee, dispatched by Washington, was 
already in the city, with a small escort. Quite an 
enthusiastic army hastily collected in Connecticut, 
was ready and eager to march for the defence of the 
place. Clinton could, with perfect ease, lay the city 
in ashes. But there were perhaps as many tories as 
patriots in the city ; and the tories constituted the 
most opulent portion of the inhabitants. A gen- 
eral conflagration would consume their mansions 
and property. 

It is also said that General Lee, whose eccentric- 
ities, seemed, at times, almost to amount to insanity, 
sent the menace to Colonel Clinton, that if he, by a 
bombardment, set a single house on fire, one hundred 
of Clinton's most intimate friends should be chained 
by the neck, to the house, and there they should 

* " General Lee was despatched, with instructions from the Com- 
mander-in-Chief, to raise volunteers in Connecticut, hasten forward to 
New York, call to his aid other troops from New Jersey, put the city 
in the best posture of defence which his means would permit, disarm 
the tories, and other persons inimical to the rights and liberties of 
America, and guard the fortifications on Hudson river." — Sparks* 
Life of Washington, 157. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 255 

find their funeral pyre. Colonel Clinton knew well 
the character of General Lee, and that he probably 
would not hesitate to execute his threat.* 

The Duke of Manchester, alluding to this event, 
in the House of Lords, said : 

*' My Lords : Clinton visited New York. The 
inhabitants expected its destruction. Lee appeared 
before it with an army too powerful to be attacked ; 
and Clinton passed by without doing any wanton 
damage." 

The fleet disappeared, sailing farther south. Lee 
commenced, with great energy, arresting the tories 
and raising redoubts for the defence of the city. It 
would seem that Governor Tryon took refuge on 
board the Asia, which was anchored between Nutten 
and Bedlow's Islands. 

The British, in Boston, continued, during the 
remainder of the winter, within their tents. Gradu- 
ally the American army augmented its forces. Not- 
withstanding all the efforts of the British officers to 
find amusement, their condition daily became more 
melancholy. Fuel was scarce ; food still more so ; 
sumptuous feasting impossible. The small-pox 
broke out. Poverty and suffering caused houses to 
be broken open and plundered. Crime was on the 
increase, which the sternest punishment could 

* " American Archives," 5th series, iv. 941. 



256 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

not arrest. The hangman was busy. The whip- 
ping post dripped with blood. Four, six, even a 
thousand lashes were inflicted on offenders. A 
soldier's wife was convicted of receiving stolen goods. 
She was tied to a cart, dragged through the streets, 
and a hundred lashes laid on her bare back. 

The situation of Washington was dreadful. He 
could not reveal his weakness ; for that would invite 
attack, and sure destruction. It was loudly pro- 
claimed that he had twenty thousand men, well 
armed, well disciplined, behind impregnable ram- 
parts, and abundantly supplied with the munitions 
of war. These representations alarmed the British, 
and saved him from assaults which he could not 
repel. But the country clamored loudly, " Why 
did he not then advance upon the foe?" To his 
friend, Mr. Reed, he wrote : 

" I know the unhappy predicament I stand in. I 
know that I cannot be justified to the world, without 
exposing my weakness. In short my situation has 
been such that I have been obliged to use art to 
conceal it from my own officers."^"^ 

* To while away weary hours the spirit of gambling was prevail- 
ing ruinously in the camp. Clouds of gloom were settling down 
over the public mind. Washington, who felt most deeply the need 
of Divine favor, by an order of the day, issued on the 26th of Febru- 
ary, forbade these demoralizing practices. He wrote : 

" At this time of public distress, men may find enough to do in the 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 257 

At length Colonel Knox arrived, from Ticonder- 
oga, with his long train of sledges, bringing more 
than fifty cannon, mortars, and howitzers, with other 
suppHes. Powder was also brought to the camp 
from several quarters, and ten regiments of militia 
came in. 

On Monday night, the 4th of March, Washington 
commenced, from several points, a heavy cannonad- 
ing of the British breastworks. The. fire was tre- 
mendous. Mrs. Adams, describing the scene to her 
husband, wrote : 

" I could no more sleep than if I had been in the 
engagement. The rattling of the windows, the jar 
of the house, the continual roar of twenty-four- 
pounders, and the bursting of shells, gave us such 
ideas, and realized a scene to us, of which we could 
scarcely form any conception." 

Under cover of this fierce bombardment, a work- 
ing party, of about two thousand men, with intrench- 
ing tools and a train of three hundred wagons, in 
silent and rapid march reached, unseen, the emi- 
nences of Dorchester Heights, which commanded the 
harbor. It was eight o'clock in the evening. They 

service of God and their country, without abandoning themselves to 
vice and immorality." 

Six days after the issue of this order, Washington's batteries were 
planted triumphantly on Dorchester Heights. — Irving's Life of 
Washington, vol. i. p. 220. 



258 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

knew well how to use the spade, and vigorously 
commenced fortifying their position. They worked 
with a will. Skilful engineers guided every move- 
ment. Not a moment was lost. Not a spadeful of 
earth was wasted. They had brought with them a 
large supply of fascines and bundles of screwed hay. 

Before the morning dawned a very formidable 
fortress frowned along the heights. Howe gazed, 
appalled, upon the spectacle. He saw, at a glance, 
that the Americans must be dislodged, or his doom 
was sealed. He exclaimed, in his astonishment : 

" The rebels have done more in one night, than 
my whole army would have done in one month." 

Another British officer wrote, ** This morning, at 
daybreak, we discovered two redoubts on Dorchester 
Point, and two smaller ones on their flanks. They 
were all raised, during the last night, with an expe- 
dition equal to that of the genii belonging to Alad- 
din's wonderful lamp. From these hills they com- 
mand the whole town, so that we must drive them 
from their place or desert the post." 

Washington was watching, with intense anxiety, 
the effect which the discovery of the operation would 
have upon the British. The commotion, in the city, 
was very visible. Instantly the shipping in the 
harbor, and every battery which could be brought to 
bear upon the works, commenced the fiercest bom- 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 259 

bardment. All the hills around were covered with 
spectators, witnessing the subHme and appalling 
spectacle. The patriot soldiers were now familiar 
with cannon-shot, and paid little heed to balls and 
shells, as they stood behind their ramparts, every 
hour adding to their strength. Washington was in 
the midst of his troops, encouraging them ; and he 
was greeted with loud cheers as he moved from 
point to point. 

Howe kept up the unavailing bombardment 
through the day, preparing to make a desperate 
night-attack upon the works, with a strong detach- 
ment of infantry and grenadiers. In the evening 
twenty-five hundred men were embarked in trans- 
ports. But God did not favor the heavy battalions. 
A violent easterly storm arose, rolling such surges 
upon the shore that the boats could not land. It 
was necessary to postpone the attack until the next 
day. But still the storm continued to rage, with 
floods of rain. It was the best ally the Americans 
could have. It held the British in abeyance until 
the Americans had time to render their works 
impregnable. 

The fleet and the town were at the mercy of 
Washington. Howe, intensely humiliated, called a 
council of war. It was decided that Boston must 
immediately be evacuated. Howe conferred with 



26o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the " select men " of Boston, and offered to leave, 
without inflicting any harm upon the place, if per- 
mitted to do so unmolested. Otherwise the town 
would be committed to the flames, and the troops 
would escape as best they could. The reply of 
Washington was, in brief: 

" If you will evacuate the city without plunder- 
ing, or doing any harm, I will not open fire upon 
you. But if you make any attempt to plunder, or 
if the torch is applied to a single building, I will 
open upon you the most deadl5^ bombardment." 

The correspondence in reference to the evacua- 
tion continued for several days. General Howe 
behaved like a silly boy. His fancied dignity, as 
an ofiicer of the crown, would not allow him to 
recognize any military rank on the part of the 
Americans. He therefore indulged in the childish- 
ness of sending an officer, with memoranda written 
I upon pieces of paper, addressed to nobody, and 
signed by nobody.* 

The exasperated British soldiers committed 
many lawless acts of violence, which General Howe, 
in vain, endeavored to arrest. Houses were broken 

*'" Washington consulted with such of the general officers as he 
could immediately assemble. The paper was not addressed to him, 
nor to any one else. It was not authenticated by the signature of 
General Howe. Nor was there any other act obliging that com- 
mander to fulfil the promise asserted to have been made by him." 
— Irving's Life of Washiugton^ yo\. i. Mount Vernon edition, p. 223. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 261 

open and furniture destroyed. These depredations im- 
perilled the life of the army. Washington, if provoked 
to do so, could sink their ships. General Howe issued 
an order that every soldier, found plundering, should 
be hanged on the spot. An officer was ordered to 
perambulate the streets, with a band of soldiers and 
a hangman, and immediately, without farther trial, 
to hang every man he should find plundering. 
I At four o'clock in the morning of the 17th of 

i March, 1776, the embarkation began, in great hurry 

I and confusion. There were seventy-eight ships and 

I transports in the harbor, and about twelve thousand, 

I including refugees, to be embarked in them. These 

j refugees were the friends of British despotism, the 

enemies of free America. As they had manifested 
1 more malignity against the American patriots than 

I the -British themselves, they did not dare to remain 

behind. Washington wrote, respecting them : 

" By all accounts there never existed a more 
miserable set of beings than those wretched crea- 
tures now are. Taught to believe that the power 
of Great Britain was superior to all opposition, and 
that foreign aid was at hand, they were even higher 
and more insulting in their opposition than the 
regulars. When the order was issued, therefore, for 
embarking the troops in Boston, no electric shock, 
no Siudden clap of thunder, in a word, the last 



262 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

trump, could not have struck them with greater con- 
sternation. They were at their wits* end, and chose 
to commit themselves, in the manner I have above 
described, to the mercy of the waves, at a tem- 
pestuous season, rather than meet their offended 
countrymen."* 

Again he wrote, as he entered the town and 
beheld the ruin around him : ordnance with trun- 
nions knocked off, guns spiked and cannons thrown 
from the wharves :f 

" General Howe's retreat was precipitate beyond 
anything I could have conceived. The destruction 
of the stores at Dunbar's camp, after Braddock's 
defeat, was but a faint image of what was to be 
seen in Boston. Artillery carts cut to pieces in one 
place, gun-carriages in another, shells broke here, 
shots buried there, and everything carrying with it the 
face of disorder and confusion, as also of distress." :j: 

* Letter to John A. Washington. — Am. Archives, v. 560. 

f A British officer wrote, in reference to this scene, so joyful, yet 
so sad. " The confusion, unavoidable to such a disaster, will make 
you conceive how much must be forgot, where every man had a 
private concern. The necessary care and distress of the women, 
children, sick and wounded, required every assistance that could be 
given. It was not like breaking up a camp, where every man knows 
his duty. It was like departing from your country, with your wives, 
your servants, your household furniture and all your incumbrances. 
The officers, who felt the disgrace of their retreat, did their utmost to 
keep up appearances." — Remembraitcery vol. iii. p. 108. 

X Lee's Memoirs, p. 162. 



THE SIEGE OF BOSTON. 263 

While the British were thus hurriedly embarking, 
the Americans stood by the side of their guns, 
gazing upon the wondrous spectacle with unutterable 
joy, and yet not firing a shot. A British officer 
afterward wrote : 

" It was lucky for the inhabitants now left in 
Boston, that they did not. For I am informed that 
everything was prepared to set the town in a blaze, 
had they fired one cannon." . 



CHAPTER IX. 

The War in New York. 

The Refugees — Return of Patriots — The Hessians — Scenes in Can- 
ada — Renewed Efforts of the British — Alexander Hamilton — 
Declaration of Independence — Prediction of John Adams — Po- 
sition of the Hostile Forces — The Interview with Colonel Patter- 
son — Scene on the River — Bombardment of Sullivan's Island — 
Obstructions of North River^Battles on Long Island — The 
Retreat — Camp at King's Bridge — The Camp at White Plains — 
Battle — Fort Washington captured by the British, 

By ten o'clock on the morning of the i8th of 
February, 1776, the British troops were all embarked, 
and the humiliated fleet was passing out of the har- 
bor. At the same time a division of the American 
troops, under General Putnam, with flying colors 
and triumphant martial strains, entered and took 
possession of the recaptured city. From a thousand 
to fifteen hundred tories had fled with the British. 
Houseless, homeless, in the depth of poverty, to be 
fed and clothed by charity, their situation was truly 
heart-rending. There were among them, affectionate 
fathers, loving mothers, amiable sons and daughters. 
They were the victims of circumstances and not of 
intentional wrong. War is indeed cruelty. Who 
can refine it? 



? 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 265 

Nearly two thousand members of patriot families 
returned with the conquering army. Weary months 
of destitution and suffering had been theirs, because 
they adhered to their country in dark hours of ad- 
versity. " It was truly interesting to witness the 
tender interviews and fond embraces of those who 
had been long separated under circumstances so 
peculiarly distressing.* 

When we consider the feeble resources of Wash- 
ington's command, the powerful forces he had to 
resist, and the obstacles to be surmounted, it must 
be admitted that the triumphant result of this cam- 
paign places Washington in the highest rank of 
military commanders. The annals of war may be 
searched in vain for a more brilliant achievement. 
No language can express the astonishment and cha- 
grin with which these tidings were heard in England. f 

It was expected that the British would make an 
attack upon New York. Washington reached the 
city on the 13 th of April. Soon a patriot army, 

* Thatcher's " Military Journal," p. 50. 

f General Charles Lee was in Virginia, when he heard of the 
evacuation. The following characteristic letter was from his pen. 
" My dear General : I most sincerely congratulate you. I congratulate 
the public on the great and glorious event. It will be a most bright 
page in the annals of America ; and a most abominable one in those 
of the beldam Britain. Go on, my dear general. Crown yourself 
with glory ; and establish the liberties and lustre of your country on 
a foundation more permanent than the Capitol rock." 

12 



266 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

amounting In all to about eight thousand men, was 
distributed at various points in the city of New York 
and its environs. Governor Tryon was still on board 
one of the ships of war, about twenty miles below the 
city. He was keeping up an active correspondence 
with the tories. Arduous duties engrossed every 
moment of the time of General Washington and 
his officers. Lady Washington was there, with sev- 
eral other distinguished ladies. One of them wrote: 

*' We all live here hke nuns, shut up in a nunnery. 
No society with the town, for there are none there 
to visit. Neither can we go in or out, after a cer- 
tain hour, without the countersign." 

England, greatly exasperated, was redoubling her 
efforts for the subjugation of America. She hired 
four thousand three hundred troops, from the Duke 
of Brunswick in Germany, and thirteen thousand 
from the Prince of Hesse. Thus seventeen thou- 
sand Germans were hired by England, to aid in 
rivetting the chains of slavery upon the necks of the 
children of her own sons and daughters. 

The remnants of Arnold's army were still in 
Canada. And, strange to say, they were besieging 
Quebec, with a force not equal to one-half of the 
British garrison, in that almost impregnable fortress. 
The British general, Carleton, was not a heroic soldier. 
Perhaps he acted humanely in keeping, with his men, 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 267 

behind their ramparts, where they were safe from 
harm. After sundry wild adventures, the little army 
found it necessary to retreat. Just then five British 
ships arrived, bringing a reinforcement of about one 
thousand men. As the Americans could not muster 
three hundred, they retired as rapidly as possible. 
Montreal was in the hands of the Americans. They 
reached their friends in that vicinity without much 
molestation. 

The latter part of May, Washington repaired to 
Philadelphia, to confer with Congress respecting the 
next campaign. General Putnam was left in com- 
mand, at New York, during his absence. The spirit 
of Washington infused new energy into Congress. 
He assured them that all hope of reconciliation with 
implacable England was at an end ; that America 
must summon all its energies, and submit the ques- 
tion to the deadly arbitration of battle. 

Congress promptly voted to hire soldiers for three 
years. A bounty of ten dollars was offered each 
recruit. About thirteen thousand militia were to be 
sent, at once, to New York. Gun-boats and fire- 
ships were to be built, to prevent the British fleet 
from entering the harbor. Ten thousand militia 
were to be stationed in the Jerseys. The British 
were engaging a large force of Indians, on the 
Mohawk, to descend that valley, and ravage the 



268 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Upper banks of the Hudson with the torch and the 
scalping knife. Washington wrote to his brother 
Augustine : 

** We expect a bloody summer in New York and 
Canada. And I am sorry to say that we are not, 
either in men or arms, prepared for it. However, it 
is to be hoped that, if our cause is just, as I most 
religiously believe, the same Providence which has, 
in many instances, appeared for us, will still go on to 
afford us its aid." 

It was now the great object of the British to get 
possession of New York. A powerful armament was 
daily expected. The tories had extensively entered 
into a conspiracy to unite with them. Extravagant 
reports were in circulation respecting their diaboli- 
cal plans of assassination and plunder. The plot, 
infamous in all its aspects, was traced, by a commit- 
tee of Congress, of which John Jay was chairman, 
distinctly to Governor Tryon, who, from his safe 
retreat on a British man-of-war, was acting through 
his agents. David Mathews, the tory mayor of the 
city, was deeply implicated in the plot. Mathews 
was residing at Flatbush. He was arrested, with 
many others. This threw the tories into the great- 
est dismay. Conscious of guilt, many fled into the 
woods. It was proved that Tryon had offered a 
bounty of five guineas to every one who would 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 269 

enlist in the service of the king, with the promise of 
one hundred acres of land for himself, one hundred 
for his wife, and fifty for each child.* 

On the 28th of June, four British ships-of-war 
appeared off the Hook. The next morning forty 
vessels were in sight. They came from Halifax, 
bringing about ten thousand troops. Most of them 
were soldiers who had been expelled from Boston. 
The alarm was great. The conspiracy had unde- 
fined Hmits. It was reported that it extended into 
the American camp ; and that men were bribed to 
spike the guns of the batteries as soon as the ships 
approached. Soon other vessels arrived, swelling 
the number of ships-of-war and transports, in the 
harbor, to one hundred and thirty. They did not 
attempt to ascend the Hudson, but landed their 
troops on Staten Island. The heights were soon 
whitened with their tents. 

General Howe came to Staten Island in one of 
these ships. He wrote, to the British government: 

" There is great reason to expect a numerous 
body of the inhabitants to join the army from the 
province of York, the Jerseys, and Connecticut, 

* "A deep plot, originating with Governor Tryon, was defeated by 
timely and fortunate discovery. His agents were found enlisting men 
in the American camp, and enticing them with rewards. It was a 
part of the plot to seize General Washington, and carry him to the 
enemy." — Sparks' Life of Washington, p. 169. 



2/0 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

who, in this time of universal oppression, only wait 
for opportunities to give proofs of their loyalty 
and zeal." 

What is now called " The Park," upon which the 
City Hall stands, was then a field, at some distance 
out of town. General Greene was crossing the field 
one day, when a company of American artillery were 
there on drill. Their commander was almost girlish, 
of fragile and graceful stature, but exercised won- 
derful powers of command and discipline. He seemed 
to be but about twenty years of age. It was Alex- 
ander Hamilton, whose renown subsequently filled 
the land, but whose heroic life was sullied with 
many a stain. He was a native of one of the West 
India Islands, and from his youth, was inspired with 
the intense desire to make for himself a name 
in the world. * 

It is a melancholy fact that the inhabitants of 
Staten Island were bitter foes of the American 
cause. They received the British with rejoicing. 
Such was the alarm-ing state of affairs when the 
Congress, at Philadelphia, was 'discussing, with 
closed doors, the question whether the united colo- 

* While a lad, in a counting house at Santa Cruz, he wrote, " 1 
contemn the grovelling condition of a clerk, to which my fortune con- 
demns me. I would willingly risk my life, though not my character, 
to exalt my station. I mean to prepare the way for futurity. I am 
no philosopher, and may justly be said to build castles in the air. I 
wish there was a war." 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 2/1 

nies should declare themselves free and independent 
States. The resolution passed unanimously on the 
2d. On the 4th, the sublime Declaration was 
adopted. 

John Adams, the renowned patriot of Massachu- 
.setts, wrote, " This will be the most memorable 
epoch in the history of America. I am apt to 
believe that it will be celebrated by succeeding 
generations as the great anniversary festival. It 
ought to be commemorated, as the day of deliverance, 
by solemn acts of devotion to Almighty God. It 
ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with 
shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illu- 
minations, from one end of this continent to the 
other, from this time forth forevermore." 

Washington, who had long been convinced that 
the British Government would never relinquish its 
claim to tax the Americans at its pleasure, hailed 
this event with joy. At the same time no one 
foresaw, more clearly than he did, the terrible ordeal 
of blood and suffering through which the Americans 
must pass, before their powerful and haughty foe 
would recognize their independence. 

On the 9th of July the Declaration was 
read, at the head of each brigade in the army. 
Most of the tories had fled from New York, 
and the remaining inhabitants were patriotic in the 



2/2 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

• 

highest degree. Their joy amounted almost to frenzy. 
There was a leaden statue of their implacable op- 
pressor, George III., in the Bowling Green. They 
hurled it from its pedestal and ran it into bullets. 

Washington disapproved of the act. It too 
much resembled lawlessness and riot. He could 
not denounce the very natural event with severity, 
but in words characteristic of this best of men, 
he wrote : 

" The General hopes and trusts that every officer 
and man will endeavor to live and act as becomes a 
Christian soldier, defending the dearest rights and 
liberties of his country." ^ 

The British were now in their ships in the lower 
harbor, and troops were landed, in large force, on 
Staten Island. The Americans were in the city, 
watching the foe with spy glasses, and adopting every 
precaution to guard against surprise. An engage- 
ment was expected every day. 

On the 1 2th of July, about three o'clock in the 
afternoon, two ships-of-war, mounting together 
sixty guns, came rapidly up the bay, favored by 
both wind and tide. The batteries opened fire upon 
them. But they swept by unharmed. It was their 
object to take possession of the river above the city, 
and rally the tories around them. That same even- 

* Orderly Book, July 9 ; Sparks iii. 456. 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 273 

ing Admiral Lord Howe arrived, and was greeted 
with a sublime salute from the fleet. Thus the two 
brothers were in command, for the attack upon 
New York. Lord Howe led the ships, and Sir Wil- 
liam the land troops. 

These haughty men, declaring the Americans to 
be rebels, refused to recognize their officers by any 
military title. Admiral Howe sent a flag of truce 
with a letter, which Lieutenant Brown, the carrier, 
said was directed to Mr. Washington. As this was 
intended as an indignity. Colonel Reed, Washington's 
adjutant-general, declined receiving the document, 
saying that he knew of no such person in the Ameri- 
can army. Upon producing the letter it was found 
to be directed to George Washington, Esquire. 

Colonel Reed, who, it will be remembered, was 
Washington's former secretary and intimate friend, 
was a polished gentleman. He knew well how to 
unite mildness of demeanor with firmness of 
action. Very courteously he dismissed Lieutenant 
Brown, assuring him that no such communication 
could be conveyed to the Commander-in-Chief of 
the armies of America. 

Lieutenant Brown was greatly agitated and 

embarrassed. On the 19th General Howe sent an 

aide, with a flag, to inquire if Colonel Patterson, the 

British adjutant-general, could be admitted to an 

12* 



274 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

interview with General Washington. Colonel Reed 
assured him that there could be no difficulty, and 
that he would pledge his honor for the safety of 
Colonel Patterson. 

The next morning Colonel Reed and another 
officer met the flag, in the harbor, and took Colonel 
Patterson into their barge. A cheerful and friendly 
conversation was maintained on the way, as they 
conveyed the officer to Washington's head-quarters, 
Washington received them with much ceremony. 
The Commander-in-Chief Was in full dress, and his 
guards were in attendance in military array. 
Colonel Patterson was either in some degree over- 
awed by the imposing scene, to which he was 
introduced, or native politeness restrained him from 
the rudeness of which his superior officers were 
guilty. 

After addressing Washington as " Your Excel- 
lency," which title he had probably studiously 
adopted, as not involving any military rank, he 
presented him with a document, which Sir William 
Howe had insolently addressed to " George Wash- 
ington, Esquire, &c., &c., &c." He suggested that 
the et cetera^ might imply anything which Wash- 
ington could wish it to imply. 

Patterson was courteously informed that no 
such communication could be received ; and after 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 2/5 

a brief, desultory conversation, the conference ter- 
minated.* 

The ships-of-war, which had ascended the river, 
cast anchor in Haverstraw Bay and Tappan Sea. 
Their boats were exploring the river above. One 
of the tenders approached within long shot of Fort 
Montgomery. A thirty-two pounder was brought 
to bear, and a shot was plunged through her quarter. 
The British commander, in revenge, ran around 
Dunderberg, landed a boat's crew, plundered the 
house of a poor farmer, and applied the torch to 
all his buildings. The marauders were punished 
severely by rustic sharpshooters, who, from the shore, 
assailed them with a deadly fire as they returned to 
their ship. 

Vigorous precautions were adopted to prevent 
the passage of the hostile ships farther up the river. 
The wreck of the American army, which had invaded 
Canada, was now at Crown Point, in a state of great 
destitution and suffering. In the motley army 
assembled around Washington, very unhappy jeal- 
ousies existed between the officers and troops from 
the different provinces. 

* " Washington received the applause of Congress and of the 
public, for sustaining the dignity of his station. His conduct, in 
this particular, was recommended as a model to all American officers 
in corresponding with the enemy. And Lord Howe informed his 
government that thenceforth, it would be polite to change the super- 
scription of his letters." — Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. 248. 



276 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

It will be remembered that Sir Henry Clinton, 
had entered New York harbor with his fleet, and had 
again suddenly disappeared, sailing south. Much 
anxiety was felt to know where he would next 
attempt to strike a blow. He looked in upon 
Norfolk. But the energetic General Lee was pre- 
pared to meet him. Again he spread his sails and 
soon appeared before Charleston, South Carolina. 
Here he was fated to meet with a humiliating repulse. 
Six miles below the city a strong fort had been built, 
on the south-west point of Sullivan's Island. It 
mounted twenty-six guns, was garrisoned by about 
four hundred men, and was commanded by Sir 
William Moultrie, of South Carolina, who had 
planned and superintended the works. 

On the 28th of June, Clinton commenced an 
attack upon this fort, by both fleet and army. One 
of the most furious cannonades was opened, which 
had ever been heard on these shores. Lee, a 
veteran soldier in the wars of Europe, who was 
present, wrote, '' It was the most furious fire I ever 
heard or saw." 

For twelve hours the bombardment continued. 
The British were bloodily repulsed, and, with their 
fleet much cut up, withdrew. A British officer, who 
took part in the engagement, wrote : 

'' In the midst of that dreadful roar of artillery, 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 277 

they (the Americans) stuck with the greatest con- 
stancy and firmness to their guns ; fired dehberately 
and slowly, and took a cool and effective aim. The 
ships suffered accordingly. They were torn almost 
to pieces. The slaughter was dreadful. Never did 
British valor shine more conspicuous ; and never did 
our marine, in an engagement of the same nature, 
with any foreign enemy, experience so rude an 
encounter." * 

One hundred and seventy-five men were killed 
on board the fleet, and about the same number 
wounded. Many of these wounds were awful, tear- 
ing off legs and arms, and proving, to the sufferers, 
a life-long calamity. 

This conflict was deemed one of the most memo- 
rable and hotly contested of the war. The Ameri- 
cans lost, in killed and wounded, but thirty-five. 
The shattered fleet put to sea, and returned to the 
north, to unite with the squadron in New York Bay. 
General Washington, in announcing this gratifying 
victory to the army, on the 21st of July, said : 

*' With such a bright example before us, of what 
can be done by brave men fighting in defence of 
their country, we shall be loaded with a double share 
of shame and infamy, if we do not acquit ourselves 

* " History of the Civil War in America," Dublin, 1779 ; " Annual 
Register." 



2;8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

with courage, and manifest a determined resolution 
to conquer or die." 

General Putnam projected a plan to obstruct the 
channel of the Hudson, so as to prevent the passage 
of the British ships up the river. Fire-ships were 
also constructed. Putnam wrote to General Gates : 

" The enemy's fleet now lies in the bay close 
under Staten Island. Their troops possess no land 
here but the island. Is it not strange that those 
invincible troops, who were to lay waste all this 
country, with their fleets and army, dare not put 
their feet on the main ? " 

In the course of a few days a hundred additional 
British vessels arrived, bringing large supplies of 
those mercenary troops who were hired from princes 
of Germany, and who were called Hessians. There 
was something in the name of Hessian rather appall- 
ing to the popular mind. There was a general 
impression that a Hessian was a sort of human 
bloodhound, whom nothing could resist. 

It was evident that England, chagrined by de- 
feats, was rousing all her energies for the subjuga- 
tion of the colonies. Her troops, as they arrived, 
were disembarked on Staten Island. They had 
learned to respect the prowess of the Americans; 
for, numerous as was their host, and though the 
island was guarded by their majestic fleet, they still 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 2/9 

deemed it necessary to throw up strong intrench- 
ments upon the hills, to guard against attack. 

Ships-of-war continued to arrive, bringing Hes- 
sians and Scotch Highlanders. Early in August, 
Sir Henry Clinton entered the bay, with his battered 
fleet, from Charleston. He brought with him Lord 
Cornwallis and three thousand troops. 

The British accumulated a force of thirty thou- 
sand men in the vicinity of New York ; while Wash- 
ington had but about twenty thousand, dispersed at 
various posts which were exposed to attack. The 
prospects of the Americans were dark indeed. There 
was much sickness in the American army in conse- 
quence of the general destitution. It was at this 
time that Washington issued his celebrated order of 
the day, entreating both officers and men to refrain 
from the " foolish and wicked practice of profane 
cursing and swearing, as tending to aHenate God 
from our cause." In this same order he said : 

**That the troops may have an opportunity of 
attending pubHc worship, as well as to take some 
rest after the great fatigue they have gone through, 
the general, in future, excuses them from fatigue 
duty on Sunday, except at the ship-yard, or on 
special occasions, until further orders." "^ 

* Orderly Book, Aug. 3, 1776. " Writings of Washington," vol. 
xiv. p. 28. 



28o GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Many of Washington's hastily levied troops had 
no weapons but a shovel, spade, or pick-ax. It was 
evident that the British were preparing for some 
very decisive movement. On the 17th of August 
many thousands were seen crowding into the trans- 
ports. No one knew where the blow would fall. 
The anxiety of Washington was manifest in the 
orders he issued, entreating every officer and every 
man to be at his post, ready for instantaneous action. 
His benevolent heart was deeply moved, in view of 
the woes which he knew must ensue. To the New 
York Convention he wrote : 

" When I consider that the city of New York 
will, in all human probability, very soon be the 
scene of a bloody conflict, I cannot but view the 
great numbers of women, children, and infirm per- 
sons remaining in it, with the most melancholy con- 
cern. Can no method be devised for their removal." * 

The two British ships which had ascended the 
river, were so annoyed by the menaces of fire-ships, 
and by having their boats fired upon whenever they 
attempted to land, that on the 1 8th of August they 

* History cannot record, neither can imagination conceive the 
woes of these households. Husbands and fathers were slain. They 
were without employment, in abject poverty, and driven houseless, 
foodless, clothesless, from their homes. In view of these awful trage- 
dies of this sad world, which have continued through dreary centuries, 
one is led to exclaim, in anguish, " O Lord ! how long ! how long ! " 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 28 1 

spread their sails, and sought refuge with the rest 
of the fleet. Had they remained two days longer, 
Putnam's obstructions would have been so far com.- 
pleted that their retreat would have been cut off, 
and they would have been captured. 

The British landed on Long Island, and advanced 
in great strength, to take possession of Brooklyn 
Heights which commanded the city of New York. 
Twenty thousand men were embarked on this expe- 
dition. Fifteen thousand were detached to create a 
diversion, by an attack upon Elizabethtown Point, 
and Amboy. Washington sent to General Greene, 
at Brooklyn, six battalions.* Not another man 
could be spared ; for the next tide would undoubt- 
edly bring the British fleet to attack the city. To 
human vision the doom of Washington was sealed. 
Certainly there was no hope if God should lend His 
aid to the " heavy battalions." 

Nine thousand British troops, with forty pieces 
of cannon, were landed without molestation. Sir 
Henry Clinton led the first division. Lord Corn- 
wallis, one of his associates in command, led a corps 
of Hessians. While others were landing, they 
rapidly advanced to seize the Heights. Should 

* Anticipating this movement Washington had stationed a body 
of troops there and thrown up breastworks. General Greene was 
placed in command. Falling sick of a fever he was succeeded by 
General Sullivan, who was succeeded by General Putnam. 



282 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

they succeed, New York would be entirely at their 
mercy. The panic in the city was dreadful. 

The genius of General Greene had well fortified 
the Heights and established strong outworks. The 
British were assailed on their march with shot and 
shell, and the deadly fire of sharp-shooters. They 
soon found it necessary to advance slowly and with 
caution. It was quite amusing to contrast the 
boasting of the British and their assumed contempt 
for the Americans armed with " scythes, pitchforks 
and shot-guns, with the exceeding circumspection 
they used in approaching those Americans on the 
field of battle. 

The British commenced landing on the 2ist of 
August. Overpowering as were their numbers they 
found it necessary to fight every step of their way. 
The rattle of musketry and the thunder of artillery, 
during this almost continuous battle of seven days* 
duration, rolled their echoes over the city of New 
York, creating intense solicitude there. There were 
some scenes of awful slaughter when the outnumber- 
ing Hessians pHed the bayonet with the fury of 
demons. There were glorious victories and awful 
defeats. As Washington gazed upon one of these 
scenes, where a detachment of his heroic troops was 
literally butchered by the plunges of Hessian bay- 
onets, he wrung his hands in agony, exclaiming, 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 283 

*' O good God, what brave fellows I must this day 
lose." * 

In this engagement fifteen thousand British 
troops attacked five thousand Americans. The 
Americans lost in killed, wounded and captured, 
about twelve hundred. General Sullivan and Lord 
Stirling were among the prisoners. 

On the 28th the British army encamped within a 
mile of the American lines on the Heights. Their 
number and armament were such, that there was 
no doubt of their being able to carry the works. 
The British fleet had entire command of the water, 
so as apparently to preclude the possibility of escape. 
There were nine thousand American soldiers on the 
Heights. The broad flood of East River flowed 
between them and New York. The British sentries 
were so near that they could hear every blow of 
the pickax. How was escape possible ! 

Chance, says the atheist, God, says the Christian, 
sent a fog, so dense that no object was visible at the 
distance of a boat's length. The rain fell dismally. 
At the same time a gentle breeze sprang up to waft 
the boats across to the New York shore. To add 
to the wonder, the atmosphere was clear on the New 
York side of the river. 

Aided by the darkness of the night and the fog, 

* " American Archives," 5th series ii. 108. 



284 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

the troops were all embarked, with the guns and 
ammunition, and before the morning dawned they 
were safe on the New York shore. Scarcely a 
musket or a cartridge was left behind. Their escape 
was like that of the Israelites, across the Red Sea, 
pursued by the enslaving hosts of Pharaoh. This 
extraordinary retreat was one of the most signal 
achievements of the war. Exceeding great was the 
surprise and mortification of the British, in finding 
that the Americans had thus escaped them. Though 
British sentries were within a few yards of the 
American lines, the last boat was crossing the river 
before the retreat was discovered."^ 

The British were now in full possession of Long 
Island. They could lay New York in ashes. But it 
is said a majority of the inhabitants of that rich and 
commercial city were tories. The conflagration 
would lay their possessions low. This arrested the 
torch. As the British would make its comfortable 
dwelHngs their headquarters during the winter, and 
as these dwellings were generally the property of the 
enemies of free America, the question was seriously 

* " This retreat, in its plan, execution and success, has been 
regarded as one of the most remarkable military events in history, 
and as reflecting the highest credit on the talents and skill of the 
commander. So intense was '.he anxiety of Washington, so unceas- 
ing his exertions that, for forty-eight hours, he did not close his eyes, 
and rarely dismounted from his horse." — Sparks' Life of Washington, 
p. 179. 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 285 

discussed, whether Washington, in his retreat, should 
commit the city to the flames.* 

The British immediately commenced vigorous 
measures to cut off the retreat of the Americans at 
King's Bridge. Intense activity prevailed in both 
camps. Random blows were struck and returned. 
The sick and wounded, with such military stores as 
were not immediately needed, were sent by Wash- 
ington to Orangetown, New Jersey. The troops were 
much disheartened. The most unintelligent could see 
that there was nothing before them but retreat. 
This led to alarming desertions. Washington could 
make humane allowances for these desertions. He 
wrote : 

" Men, just dragged from the tender scenes of 
domestic life, and unaccustomed to the din of arms, 
totally unacquainted with every kind of military 
skill, are timid and ready to fly from their own 
shadows. Besides, the sudden change in their man- 
ner of living brings on an unconquerable desire to 
return to their homes."f 

* Washington wrote to Congress, " If we should be obliged to 
abandon the town, ought it to stand as winter quarters for the enemy. 
They would derive great convenience from it, on the one haad, and 
much property would be destroyed on the other. At the present, I 
dare say the enemy mean to preserve it if they cau." 

f In a somewhat similar strain of sympathy General Greene wrote : 
" People coming from home, with all the tender feelings of domestic 
life, are not sufficiently fortified with natural courage, to stand the 



286 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Admiral Lord Howe, was a personal friend of f 

Franklin. He seemed really desirous of promoting 
reconciliation, and suggested an unofficial meeting 
with some of the prominent American gentlemen, 
to talk the matter . over. John Adams, Edward 
Rutledge and Benjamin Franklin were appointed on 
this mission. The conference was fruitless. Lord 
Howe was not authorized to propose any terms 
but the return of America to subjection to the Brit- 
ish crown. This proposition could only be peremp- 
torily rejected.* 

The whole British force, excepting a small garri- 
son of four thousand men, left on Staten Island, was 
removed to Long Island. Their plan was to surround 
the Americans with fleet and army, on Manhattan 
Island, and thus compel their surrender or cut them 

shocking scenes of war. To march over dead men, to hear without 
concern the groans of the wounded — I say few men can stand such 
scenes, unless steeled by habit or fortified by military pride." 

* On the 30th of July, 1776, Colonel Palfrey went on board Lord 
Howe's ship to negotiate an exchange of prisoners. The noble 
Admiral was careful to speak of the American Commander-in-Chief , 

as Gena-al Washington ; he declared that he held his person and 
character in the highest esteem, and that his heart was deeply touched 
by the affectionate allusion of Washington and of Congress, to his 
elder brother Lord George, who fell at Ticonderoga. With a moistened 
eye he alluded to the fact that the province of Massachusetts had erected 
a monument to his brother in Westminster Abbey. In closing the 
interview he sent his kind regards to Washington, and added, " I 
hope that America will one day or other be convinced that, in our 
affection for that country, we are also Howes." -^ 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 28/ 

to pieces. Congress, by a vote passed on the loth 
of September, left the fate of the city in the hands 
of General Washington. A council of war unani- 
mously decided that the evacuation of .the city was 
necessary. There were daily shots exchanged. 
Ships were moving up both rivers. At times there 
were very heavy exchanges of bombardments, rolling 
their portentous reverberations along the shores. 

Washington established his head-quarters at 
King's Bridge. On the retreat, some of the troops 
were thrown into a panic, and displayed the most 
sham^eful cowardice. The disgust of Washington 
was so great that, for a few moments, he seemed 
quite in despair. "Are these the men," he vehe- 
mently exclaimed, '* with whom I am to defend 
America ? " 

Soon, however, he regained that self-control which 
he so seldom lost. The city was finally abandoned, 
in such haste, being attacked by both the fleet and 
the army, that most of the heavy cannon, and a con- 
siderable amount of military stores were left behind. 
Washington won the admiration of his officers by 
the coolness and efficiency he manifested during 
this dreadful retreat. It was a day of burning, 
blistering heat. The terror, confusion and suffering 
were dreadful. The army was encumbered with wo- 
men and children, tottering along, moaning, crying, 



288 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

faint, thirsty, exhausted and in unutterable woe. 
Colonel Humphreys wrote : 

*' I had frequent opportunities that day, of 
beholding Washington issuing orders, encouraging 
the troops, flying on his horse covered with foam, 
wherever his presence was most necessary. Without 
his extraordinary exertions, the guards must have 
been inevitably lost, and it is possible the entire 
corps would have been cut in pieces.*' 

On the upper part of Manhattan Island there is 
a neck of land several miles long, and but about one 
mile wide. Here Washington established his forti- 
fied camp. About a mile below him, the British 
lines extended, across the island, in an encampment 
about two miles in length. The flanks were strongly 
covered by the fleet. In throwing up the fortifica- 
tions here the youthful Alexander Hamilton arrested 
the attention, and secured the warm attachment, of 
Washington by the science and skill he displayed. 

The British the next day attacked a redoubt, 
with overpowering numbers, and, after a severe con- 
flict drove off the brave defenders. With character- 
istic boastfulness, they insultingly sounded their 
bugles, as usual after a fox-chase. The next day 
Washington avenged the insult by sending troops 
to attack one of the posts of the British. The 
British were met in the open field, and driven before 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. . 289 

the impetuous assault. This victory though unim- 
portant, greatly revived the desponding spirit of 
the army.* 

The next night there was a destructive conflagra- 
tion in the city. A large portion of the buildings 
were laid in ashes. Whether this were the result of 
accident, or the work of incendiaries, has never been 
known. The British began to land their heavy 
cannon in preparation for an attack upon the Amer- 
ican camp. Still their caution was inexplicable to 
Washington. They had vastly superior numbers, 
were thoroughly disciplined, had an abundance of 
the best weapons and munitions of war, and a 
powerful fleet to cooperate with the land troops ; 
and yet, day after day, they sheltered themselves 
behind their ramparts, not venturing upon an attack. 

Three ships-of-war ascended the river. *' They 
broke through the vaunted barriers as through a 
cobweb." The Hudson was at their control. They 

* It would seem that God must have stricken the British leaders 
with gross incapacity, else with such a powerful fleet and with such a 
numerous highly-disciplined, and thoroughly equipped army, the 
feebleness of half-starved, half-clothed, and not half-equipped Amer- 
ican farmers would have been entirely crushed out in a week. No 
one familiar with military affairs can examine these operation,s with- 
out amazement that the Americans could have maintained so unequal 
a conflict. There is nothing to be compared to it in all the annals 
of warfare. For be it remembered that neither the British officers 
nor soldiers were cowards. Men more reckless of danger never 
stormed a battery. 



290 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

began to plunder and to burn. The Tories flocked 
to the British camp eager to enlist. Many felt that 
the whole lower part of the river must be abandoned 
to the foe. John Jay wrote to the Board of War : 

*' I wish our army well-stationed in the High- 
lands, and all the lower country devastated. We 
might then bid defiance to all further efforts of the 
enemy in that quarter." 

The British were establishing strong fortifications 
in the rear of the American army to cut off its sup- 
plies. Its majestic fleet of men-of-war and gunboats 
could crowd the waters of the North River and the 
East River, and, encircHng the island, could reach 
every spot with its terrific bombardment of round- 
shot and shell. 

A council of war decided that the island of 
Manhattan was no longer tenable ; and that it must 
be immediately abandoned. In good order the 
troops retired, a new position having been selected 
on the mainland. Washington established his head- 
quarters at White Plains in a fortified camp. Several 
skirmishes ensued, in which the British were taught 
the necessity of continued caution in approaching 
the American works. 

The latter part of October the British made their 
appearance, in two solid columns, to attack the 
encampment at White Plains. The conflict 'lasted 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 29I 

several hours, without any decisive result. About 
four hundred were struck down on each side. Dur- 
ing the night the two armies lay opposite each other, 
within cannon shot. It was clear and cold. But 
fuel was abundant ; and the soldiers on each side 
were struck with the sublime spectacle which the 
gloomy camp-fires presented. A British officer, 
writing to a friend in London, gives the f611owing 
account of the condition of the American troops 
at this time : 

" The rebel army are in so wretched a condition, 
as to clothing and accoutrements, that I believe 
no nation ever saw such a set of tatterdemalions. 
There are few coats among them but such as are out 
at elbows, and, in a whole regiment, there is scarce 
a pair of breeches. Judge, then, how they must be 
pinched by a winter's campaign. We, who are 
warmly clothed and well-equipped, already feel it 
severely ; for it is even now much colder than I ever 
felt it in England." 

Under these circumstances there can be no ques- 
tion that, in generalship, Washington was far the 
superior of the British officers who were arrayed 
against him. ' And it is probably the unanimous 
voice of those skilled in the art of war, that there 
was not another general in the American army who 
could have filled the place of Washington. 



292 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

A higher compHment to American valor could 
hardly be paid than the announcement, that the 
next morning, when General Howe saw the arrange- 
ments Washington had made to receive him, he 
did not venture to attack the American lines. On 
the night of the 31st Washington retired, with his 
main army, a distance of about five miles, to the 
high, rocky hills about North Castle. Here again 
he rapidly intrenched himself with spade and mat- 
tock. It must have been a deep humiliation for 
the haughty General Howe with his magnificent 
army to find all his plans thwarted by this feeble 
band of '* tatterdemalions." He made no attempt 
to dislodge Washington. 

At midnight, on the 4th of November, Howe 
commenced withdra.wing his troops, as though he 
were a vanquished foe, retreating before his victors. 
Soon the whole force disappeared from White 
Plains. The plan of the British general was soon 
made manifest. He encamped his army on Ford- 
ham Heights, near King's Bridge, in preparation 
for an attack upon Fort Washington. He invested 
the fort and, on the 15th, sent a summons to sur- 
render, with a barbaric threat, if he was forced to 
carry the works by assault. Washington hastened 
to the beleaguered fortress, which he reached in the 
gloom of a cold November evening. Colonel Magaw, 



THE WAR IN NEW YORK. 293 

who was In command, "had nearly three thousand 
men. As the fort itself could not contain more 
than one thousand, the others were stationed at 
the outposts. 

General Howe planned for four simultaneous 
attacks. The assault ' was a series of complicated 
battles, some at the distance of two and a half miles 
from the fort, and some within cannon shot of its 
walls. Washington witnessed one of those awful 
conflicts, where the Hessians rushed like fiends 
over the ramparts of a battery, and bayoneted the 
young Americans begging for life. It is said that 
his sympathies were so moved by the demoniac 
scene, that he wept with the tenderness of a child.* 

The redoubts were captured and the retreating 
troops so crowded the fort, that the men could 
scarcely move about. The British could throw in 
a shower of shells and balls, which would cause 
awful carnage. A capitulation could not be 
avoided, 

Washington stood upon a neighboring eminence, 
and saw the American flag fall and the British flag 
rise in its place. The loss was a severe one. Wash- 

* It requires a heart hardened by the horrors of war to see, 
unmoved, an overpowering band of soldiers,, maddened by the conflict, 
plunging their bayonets into the faces, bosoms, and bowels of farmers, 
boys, crying for mercy, and who have but just come from their peace- 
ful firesides. 



294 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ington had recommended, not ordered, that the 
fort should be evacuated, and the men and stores 
removed to a place of safety.* But some of his 
more sanguine generals were confident that they 
could hold the place. Deep as was his grief, he did 
not reproach them. The impetuous General Lee 
wrote to Washington ; " Oh, General, why would 
you be overpersuaded by men of inferior judgment 
to your own ? It was a cursed affair." 

Colonel Tilghman wrote on the 17th to Robert 
R. Livingston, of New York : " We were in a fair 
way of finishing the campaign with credit to our- 
selves and I think to the disgrace of Mr. Howe. 
And had the general followed his own opinion, the 
garrison would have been withdrawn immediately 
upon the enemy's falHng down from Dobbs Ferry." 

The captives, amounting, according to General 
Howe's returns, to two thousand eight hundred and 
eighteen, were marched off, at midnight, to the 
awful prison hulks of New York, where they en- 
dured sufferings which must forever redound to the 
disgrace of the British government. 

* Washington wrote to General Greene, on the 8th of November : 
" I am inclined to think that it will not be prudent to hazard the 
men and stores at Mount Washington. But, as you are on the spot 
I leave it to you to give such orders, as to evacuating Mount Wash- 
ington, as you may judge best ; and so far revoking the orders given 
to Colonel Magaw, to defend it to the last." 



CHAPTER X. 
The Vicissitudes of War, 

Crossing the Hudson — The retreat — Views of the British — Strange 
conduct of Lee — His capture — Crossing the Delaware — Battle of 
Trenton — Heroic march upon Princeton — Discomfiture of the 
British — Increasing renown of Washington — Barbarism of the 
British — Foreign Volunteers — Movements of the fleet — Lafayette 
— Movements of Burgoyne — The murder of Jane McCrea — Bat- 
tle of Fort Schuyler — Starks' Victory at Bennington — Battle of 
the Brandywine — Its effects. 

Washington removed the most of his army 
across the Hudson, a Httle below Stony Point, that 
he might seek refuge for them among the Highlands. 
General Heath was entrusted with the command. 
As the troops crossed the river, three of the British 
men-of-war were seen a few miles below, at anchor 
in Haverstraw Bay. Fort Lee, on the Jersey shore, 
was now useless, and was promptly abandoned. On 
the 2oth the British army crossed the river in two 
hundred boats. It is remarkable that their fears 
were such that they took the precaution of crossing, 
as it were by stealth, in a dark and rainy night. 

A corps of six thousand men under Cornwallis, 
was marshaled about six miles above the fort, 
II* 



296 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

under the towering Palisades. The troops, retreat- 
ing from Fort Lee, about three thousand in number, 
were at Hackensack, without tents or baggage, and 
exceedingly disheartened. Still the British were in 
great strength on the east of the Hudson. They 
could concentrate their forces and make a resistless 
raid into New England, or, with their sohd battalions 
march upon Philadelphia and the opulent towns in 
that region. It soon became evident that the Brit- 
ish were aiming at Philadelphia. Washington 
endeavored to concentrate as many as possible of his 
suffering troops at Brunswick. It makes one blush 
with indignation to remember that a loud clamor 
.was raised against Washington for his continual 
retreat. 

It would have been the act of a madman to pur- 
sue any course different from that which Washing- 
ton was pursuing. His feelings were very keenly 
wounded, by seeing indications of this spirit of 
ignorant censure, on the part of some whom he had 
esteemed his firmest friends. There were others, 
however, and among them many of the very noblest 
in the land, who appreciated the grandeur of Wash- 
ington's character and the consummate ability with 
which he was conducting as difficult a campaign as 
was ever intrusted to mortal guidance. 

Washington, with a feeble, disheartened band, in 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 297 

a state of learful destitution, lingered at Brunswick 
until the ist of December. The haughty foe, in 
solid columns was marching proudly through the 
country, with infantry, artillery and cavalry, im- 
pressing horses, wagons, sheep, cattle and every 
thing which could add to the comfort of his warmly 
clad and well fed hosts.^ 

The chill winds of winter were moaning over the 
bleak fields, and ice was beginning to clog the 
swollen streams. About twelve hundred men were 
stationed at Princeton, to watch the movements of 
the enemy. On the 2d his harassed army reached 
Trenton. In that dark hour, when all hearts began 
to fail, Washington remained undaunted. He wrote 
to General Mercer : 

"We must retire to Augusta county, in Virginia. 
Numbers will repair to us for safety. We will try a 
predatory war. If overpowered, we must cross the 
Alleghanies." 

In these hours of despondency and dismay, 
Admiral Howe and his brother the general, on the 
30th of November, issued a proclamation, offering 

* " The people of New Jersey beheld the commander in chief 
retreating through their country, with a handful of men, weary, way- 
worn, dispirited, without tents, without clothing many of them bare- 
footed, exposed to wintry weather, and driven from port to port, by a 
well clad, triumphant force tricked out in all the glittering bravery, 
ol war." — Irving's Life of Washington, p. J04. 



298 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

pardon to all who, within thirty days, should disband 
and return to their homes. Many, particularly of 
those \vho had property to lose, complied with these 
terms. On the 2d of December a British officer 
wrote to a friend in London : 

*' The rebels continue flying before our army. 
Washington was seen retreating with two brigades 
to Trenton, where they talk of resisting. But such 
a panic has seized the rebels that no part of the 
Jerseys will hold them ; and I doubt whether Phil- 
adelphia itself will stop their career. The Congress" 
have lost their authority. They are in such con- 
sternation that they know not what to do. However, 
should they embrace the inclosed proclamation, they 
may yet escape the halter." "^ 

Congress hastily adjourned to meet at Baltimore 
on the 20th of December. It was really a flight 
from Philadelphia. Washington had but five thou- 
sand five hundred men. It is difficult to account 
for the conduct of General Lee, upon any other plea 
than that of insanity. He turned against Washing- 
ton, assumed airs of superiority, and was extremely 
dilatory in lending any cooperation. Washington 
wrote to him : 

" Do come on. Your arrival may be the means 
of preserving a city, (Philadelphia,) whose loss must 

* American Archives, 5th series, iii. 1037. 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 299 

prove of the most fatal consequence to the cause 
of America." 

Lee was loitering at Morristown, with about four 
thousand men. He was an Englishman by birth, 
and a man of undoubted military ability, but coarse 
and vulgar in dress, mind, language, and manners. 
His ordinary speech was interlarded with oaths. On 
the 1 2th of December Lee was at a tavern at Bask- 
enridge, not far from Morristown. There was no 
British cantonment within twenty miles. He was 
n'aturally an indolent man, and was entirely off his 
guard. 

At eight o'clock in the morning he came down 
to breakfast, in his usually slovenly style, apparently 
unwashed and uncombed, in slippers, with linen 
much soiled, collar open, and with a coarse, war-worn 
blanket overcoat. Suddenly a party of British dra- 
goons surrounded the house, seized him, forced him 
instantly on a horse, bare-headed, and in his slippers 
and blanket coat, and upon the full gallop set off 
with their prize for Brunswick. It was a bold move- 
ment, and heroically was it achieved. In three hours 
the heavy booming of guns at Brunswick, announced 
the triumph of the English. * 

Though the British were very exultant over this 

* American Archives, 5th series, iii. 1265. Letter of Joseph 
Trumbull to Governor Trumbull. 



3CX) GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

capture, and the Americans felt keenly the disgrace 
and the loss, it is by no means improbable that, had 
not Lee thus been captured, he would have proved 
the ruin of the country. He was a reckless, dashing 
man, destitute of high moral qualities, was plotting 
against Washington, and would unquestionably have 
sacrificed the army in some crushing defeat had he 
been intrusted with the supreme command. There 
were not a few who, disheartened by defeat, were in 
favor of trying the generalship of Lee. ^ 

Washington combined in his character, to an 
astonishing degree, courage and prudence. It is 
doubtful whether there was another man on the 
continent who could have conducted his retreat 
through the Jerseys, f With a mere handful of 
freezing, starving, ragged men, he retreated more 
than a hundred miles before a powerful foe, flushed 
with victory and strengthened with abundance. He 
baffled all their endeavors to cut him off, and pre- 
served all his field-pieces, ammunition, and nearly 

* From the tavern at Baskin ridge Lee wrote to General Gates : 
" The ingenious manoeuvre at Fort Washington has completely un- 
hinged the goodly fabric we had been building. There never was so 
damned a stroke. Entre nous (l:>etween us) a certain great man is 
damnably deficient." 

t In 1676, the present territory of New Jersey was set off in two 
great divisions called East and West Jersey. Each belonged to 
different proprietors. In the year 1702, the two provinces were 
united. But still, in all the early annals, the province was spoken 
of as " the Jerseys." 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 30I 

all his stores. There was grandeur in this achieve- 
ment which far surpassed any ordinary victory. * 

In this emergency Congress invested Washington 
with almost dictatorial authority. It was voted that 
*' General Washington should be possessed of all 
power to order and direct all things relative to the 
department and to the operations of war."* General 
Sullivan hastened to join him with Lee's troops. 
They were in a deplorable state of destitution. In 
ten days several regiments would have served out 
their term. Washington would then be left with but 
fourteen hundred men. General Wilkinson writes : 

" I saw Washington in that gloomy period : dined 
with him and attentively marked his aspect. Always 
grave and thoughtful, he appeared at that time, pen- 
sive and solemn in the extreme." 

Washington crossed the Delaware, destroyed the 

* Washington, ever magnanimous, comments as follows on the 
capture of Lee, who he knew was trying to supplant him. He wrote 
to his brother Augustine, " This is an additional misfortune and the 
more vexatious as it was by his own folly and imprudence, and with- 
out a view to effect any good, that he was taken. As he went to 
lodge three miles out of his camp, a rascally tory rode in the night, to 
the enemy, who sent a party of light horse, that seized him and car- 
ried him off with every mark of indignity and triumph." 

f The Committee of Congress who communicated to Washington 
the vote conferring upon him these powers, added : " Happy is it for 
our country that the general of their forces can safely be intrusted 
with the most unlimited power, and neither personal security, liberty 
nor property, be in the least degree endangered thereby." — American 
Archives, 5th series, iii. 15 10. 



302 GEORGE WASHINGTON. - 

bridges, and seized all the boats for a distance of 
seventy miles up and down the river. These he 
either destroyed, or placed under guard, on the west 
bank. Here he stationed his troops with the broad 
river between him and his foes. He had then about 
five or six thousand men. Cornwallis continued 
his troops, mostly Hessians, on the east bank of the 
Delaware, facing the American lines. The idea of 
his being attacked by Washington was as remote 
from his thoughts as that an army should descend 
from the skies. 

There were three regiments at Trenton. The 
weather was intensely cold. Vast masses of ice were 
floating down the river. In a few days it would be 
frozen over, so that the British could pass anywhere 
without impediment. The energies of despair alone 
could now save the army. But Washington guided 
those energies with skill and caution, which ehcited 
the wonder and admiration of the world. 

He knew that on Christmas night the German 
troops, unsuspicious of danger, would be indulging in 
their customary carousals on that occasion. Their 
bands would be in disorder, and many would be 
intoxicated. He selected twenty-five hundred of 
his best troops with a train of twenty pieces of 
artillery. With these feeble regiments, he was to 
cross the ice-encumbered river, to attack the heavy 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 303 

battalions of the foe. One can imagine the fervor 
with which he pleaded with God to come to the aid 
of his Httle army. Defeat would be ruin — probably 
his own death or capture. The British would sweep 
everything before them ; and then all American 
rights would , be trampled beneath the feet of. that 
despotic power. 

The wintry wind was keen and piercing as, soon 
after sunset, the thinly clad troops entered the boats 
to cross the swollen stream. Washington passed 
over in one of the first boats, and stood upon the 
snow-drifted eastern bank, to receive and marshal 
the detachments as they arrived. The night was 
very dark and tempestuous, with wind, rain and hail, 
compeUing the British sentinels to seek shelter. It 
was not until three o'clock in the morning that the 
artillery arrived. 

The landing was effected nine miles above Tren- 
ton. The storm was raging fiercely, driving the 
sleet with almost blinding violence into the faces of 
the troops. They advanced, in two divisions, to 
attack the town at different points. Washington 
led one division, Sullivan the other. At eight o'clock, 
enveloped in the fierce tempest, they made a simul- 
taneous attack. The conflict was short and the vic- 
tory decisive. The British commander — Colonel 
Rahl — a brave and reckless soldier, like Lee, but a 



304 GEORGE WASHINGTON.. 

poor general, lost all self-possession, and was soon 
struck down by a mortal wound. The Hessians, 
thrown into a panic, and having lost their com- 
mander, threw down their arms. 

Under the circumstances, it was a wonderful and 
glorious victory. A thousand prisoners were cap- 
tured, including twenty-three officers. Six brass field 
pieces, a thousand stand of arms, and a large supply 
of the munitions of war were also taken. It was 
comparatively a bloodless victory. The Americans 
lost but four. Two were killed and two frozen to 
death. Lieutenant Monroe, afterward President of 
the United States, was wounded. The British lost 
in killed, between twenty and thirty.* 

Washington, aware that an overpowering force 
might soon come down upon him, recrossed the 
Delaware the same day, with his prisoners, and with 
the artillery, stores and munitions of war which were 
of such priceless value to the army at that time.. 

* It is not strange that the soldiers should have been disposed to 
revile the Hessian captives for having hired themselves to aid the 
British to rob the Americans of their liberties. One of the Hessian 
soldiers wrote in his journal : 

" General Washington had written notices put up in town and 
country, that we were innocent of this war, and had joined in it not 
of our free will but through compulsion. We should therefore not be 
treated as enemies but as friends. From this time things went better 
with us. Every day many came out of the towns, old and young, rich 
and poor, and treated us with kindness and humanity." Tagebuch 
des corporals Johatines Reuber, 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 305 

Washington had made arrangements for another 
division of his troops to cross the river a little below 
Trenton, to aid in the attack. But the ice and the 
storm delayed them, so that they could take no part 
in the heroic enterprise. A general panic pervaded 
the scattered cantonments of the British. It was 
reported that Washington was marching upon them 
at the head of fifteen thousand troops. Many posts 
were abandoned, and the troops sought refuge in 
precipitate flight. The tories were alarmed, and 
began to avow themselves patriots. The patriotic 
Americans were encouraged, and more readily en- 
listed. And though there was many a dreary day of 
blood and woe still to be encountered, this heroic cross- 
ing of the Delaware was the turning point in the war. 
The midnight hour of darkness had passed. The dawn 
was at hand, which finally ushered in the perfect day.* 

Washington gave his brave and weary troops a 
few days of rest, and again, on the 29th, crossed over 
to Trenton. It was mid-winter, and the roads were 
in a wretched condition. But it was necessary to be 
regardless of cold and hunger, and of exhaustion, in 
the endeavor to reclaim the Jerseys from the cruel 

* When General Howe, in New York, heard of the affair at Tren- 
ton, he raised his hands in amazement, exclaiming : " Is it possible 
that three veteran regiments of the British army, who make war their 
profession, can have laid down their arms to a ragged and undisci- 
plined militia, with scarcely any loss on either side." 



306 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

foe. Not a Briton or 'a Hessian was to be seen. 
The enemy had drawn off from their scattered can- 
tonments, and were concentrating all their forces 
at Princeton. 

Lord Cornwallis, greatly chagrined at the defeat, 
rallied about eight thousand men at Princeton. 
General Howe was on the march to join him, with 
an additional body of a thousand light troops which 
he had landed at Amboy, with abundant supplies. 

Washington posted his troops on the east side 
of a small stream called the Assumpink. Cornwallis 
with nearly his whole force, approached about mid- 
day. He made repeated attempts to cross the 
stream, but was driven back by the well posted 
batteries of Washington. It was impossible for the 
Americans to retreat, for the broad Delaware, filled 
with floating ice, was in their rear. As night came 
on Cornwallis decided to give his troops some sleep, 
and await the arrival of his rear-guard. He said, 
" Washington cannot escape me. I will bag the fox 
in the morning." 

Again Washington performed one of those feats 
of skill and daring, which has never perhaps been 
surpassed in the achievements of war. In the 
gloom of that wintry night he piled the wood upon 
his watchfires, left sentinels to go their rounds, 
employed a band of sappers and miners to work 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 307 

noisily in throwing up trenches ; and then in a 
rapid, silent march, with all his remaining force, by 
a circuitous route, passed round the British encamp- 
ment, and when morning dawned had reached 
Princeton undiscovered, many miles in the rear of 
the foe. Here he attacked three British regiments 
and put them to flight, killed one hundred of the 
enemy, captured three hundred, and replenished his 
exhausted stores from the abundant supplies which 
the British had left there under guard. 

Should Cornwallis continue his march to Phila- 
delphia, Washington would immediately advance 
upon Brunswick, and seize all his magazines. The 
British commander was therefore compelled to 
abandon that project and retreat, with the utmost 
precipitation, to save his stores. The battle at 
Princeton was fiercely contested. Washington 
plunged into the thickest of all its perils. But the 
victory, on the part of the Americans, was decisive. 
The foe was routed and scattered in precipitate 
flight. One of the British officers who fell on this 
occasion was Captain Leven, son of the wealthy and 
illustrious Earl of Leven. He seems to have been 
a gallant and amiable young man. His death was 
sincerely deplored by his comrades. It is often said 
that bayonets must not think ; that it is their sole 
function to obey. But those who guide bayonets 



308 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

are culpable, in the highest degree, if they direct the 
terrible energies of those bayonets against the 
right and for the wrong. History must record that 
the prospective Earl of Leven fell, ignobly fighting 
to rivet the chains of an intolerable despotism upon 
his fellow-men. It is well that the woes of cruel war 
penetrate the castle as well as the cottage. 

It is said that when Cornwallis awoke in the 
morning, and heard the heavy booming of cannon 
far away in his rear, he was lost in astonishment, 
being utterly unable to account for it. And when 
he learned that, during the »night, his victims had 
escaped, and that Washington was cutting down his 
guard, and seizing his magazines, he could not refrain 
from expressing his admiration of the heroism of 
his foe. 

Greatly humiliated, he marched at the double 
quick, to save, if possible, the large supplies at 
Brunswick, compelled to admit that he had been 
completely foiled and outgeneraled. 

Washington, thus gloriously a victor, thought it 
not prudent to advance upon Brunswick, as a strong 
guard was left there, and it was certain that Corn- 
wallis would come rushing down upon him at the 
double quick. He therefore continued his march, 
which may be truly called a victorious retreat, to the 
mountainous region of Morristown. Here he estab- 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR, 309 

lished his winter quarters, In strong positions which 
the British did not venture to assail. 

Washington, while on the march, wrote to Gen- 
eral Putnam ; " The enemy appear to be panic- 
struck. I am in hopes of driving them out of the 
Jerseys. Keep a strict watch upon the enemy. A 
number of horsemen, in the dress of the country, 
must be kept constantly going backward and forward 
for this purpose." 

To General Heath, who was stationed in the 
Highlands of the Hudson, he wrote : '' The enemy 
are in great consternation. As the panic affords us 
a favorable opportunity to drive them out of the 
Jerseys, it has been determined, in council, that 
you should move down toward New York, with a 
considerable force, as if you had a design upon the 
city. That being an object of great importance, the 
enemy will be reduced to the necessity of withdraw- 
ing a considerable part of their force from the Jer- 
seys, if not the whole, to secure the city. 

Washington reinforced his Httle band at Morris- 
town, and, keeping a vigilant watch upon the*move- 
ments of the British, so harassed them, that Corn- 
wallis was compelled to draw in all his outposts, and 
his land communication with New York was en- 
tirely cut off. The whole aspect of the war, in the 
Jerseys, was changed. The grand military qualities 



310 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

of Washington were generally recognized. Alexan- 
der Hamilton wrote : 

•* The extraordinary spectacle was presented of a 
powerful army, straitened within narrow limits, by 
the phantom of a military force, and never permitted 
to transgress those limits with impunity." * 

The British had conducted like savages in the 
Jerseys, burning, plundering and committing all 
manner of outrages, often making no discrimination 
between friends and foes. Thus the whole country 
was roused against them. The American troops 
speedily erected a village of log huts in a sheltered 
valley covered with a dense forest. 

General Howe, in New York, was a gamester, a 
wine-bibber, and a fashionable young man of pleas- 
ure. He and his officers spent the winter in con- 
vivial and luxurious indulgence. The American 
prisoners were treated with barbarity which would 
have disgraced the Mohawks. General Lee was 
held in close confinement, Howe affecting to regard 
him as a deserter, as he had once been an officer in 
the British army.f 

* The Italian historian Botta, in his admirable story of the 
American War writes, " Achievements so astonishing, gained for the 
American commander a very great reputation, and were regarded 
with wonder by all nations, as well as by the Americans. All de- 
clared him to be the saviour of his country ; and proclaimed him 
equal to the most renowned commanders of antiquity." — Sioria della 
Guerra dell' Independenza degli Stati Uniti d America, Tom. ii, lib. 7. 

f The officers and soldiers were confined in the hulks of old ships 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. -3x1 

Washington had but a very feeble force with 
him at Morristown. He however succeeded in im- 
pressing the British with the conviction that he had 
a powerful army quite well equipped. He wrote : 
" The enemy must be ignorant of our numbers and 
situation, or they would never suffer us to remain 
unmolested." 

The fame of the great struggle for American in- 
dependence had now pervaded the civilized world. 
Everywhere, the hearts of the lovers of freedom 
throbbed in sympathy with the American cause. 
Many foreign officers came, and applied for service 
in the patriot army. One of the most illustrious of 
these was the Polish general, Thaddeus Kosciusko."^ 

Toward the end of May, Washington broke up 
his camp at Morristown, and advanced to Middle- 
brook, about ten miles from Brunswick. His entire 
force consisted of seven thousand three hundred 
men. The whole country was smiling in the beauti- 

which were anchored in the harbor, and which were, not inappropri- 
ately, called floating-hells. They were destitute of every comfort. A 
dreadful malady broke out among them, and they perished by 
hundreds. 

* Kosciusko brought a letter from Franklin to Washington. 
" What do you seek here ; " inquired the commander-in-chief. " To 
fight for' American independence," was the reply. " What can you 
do ? " said Washington. " Try me," was the simple response. There 
was something in the bearing of the man which won the confi- 
dence of Washington. He received him as an aide-de-camp. In the 
hour of trial, he was never found wanting. 



312 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ful bloom of spring. A fleet of a hundred crowded 
British transports left New York. Great was the 
anxiety to learn where the blow was to fall. 
At the same time, Sir William Howe took up his 
headquarters at Brunswick.^ He soon drew out his 
forces upon the Raritan, and by plundering and 
burning private dwellings, endeavored to provoke 
Washington to descend from his strong position, and 
attack him. Failing in this, and finding that he 
could not advance upon Philadelphia with such a foe 
in his rear, he broke up hi5 camp, and abandoning the 
Jerseys, returned with all his troops to New York. 

Washington having thus driven the foe from the 
Jerseys, awaited, with great anxiety, tidings of the 
British fleet. Its destination, whether south or east, 
was matter only of conjecture. The ships contained 
quite a formidable army of eighteen thousand thor- 
oughly equipped soldiers. They were capable of 
striking very heavy blows. Circumstances inclined 
him to the opinion that it was the aim of the fleet to 
capture Philadelphia. He therefore moved his army 
in that direction, and encamped at Coryell's Ferry, 
about thirty miles from the city. General Gates 
was stationed at Philadelphia, with a small force. On 
the 30th of July, Washington wrote to General Gates : 

" As we are yet uncertain as to the real destina- 
tion of the enemy, though the Delaware seems the 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 313 

most probable, I have thought it prudent to halt 
the army at this place, at least till the fleet actually 
enters the bay, and puts the matter beyond a doubt. 

" That the post in the Highlands may not be 
left too much exposed, I have ordered General 
Sullivan's division to halt at Morristown, whence it 
will march southward, if there should be occasion, or 
northward upon the first advice that the enemy 
should be throwing any force up the North river." 

The next day Washington received intelligence 
•that the British fleet of two hundred and twenty- 
eight sail, had appeared off the Capes of Delaware. 
He immediately advanced to Germantown, but six 
miles from the city. The next day, however, the 
fleet again disappeared and the embarrassments of 
Washington were renewed. He feared that the 
appearance of the fleet in the Delaware was a mere 
feint, and that its destination might be to get entire 
possession of the Hudson river. 

Several days passed, when, on the loth of 
August, tidings reached him that, three days before, 
the fleet was seen about fifty miles south of the 
Capes of Delaware. During his encampment Wash- 
ington repeatedly visited the city to superintend 
operations for its defence. 

On one occasion he dined in the city with several 
members of Congress. One of the guests was a 



314 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

young nobleman from France, the Marquis de 
Lafayette. This heroic man, whose memory is 
enshrined in the heart of every American, had left 
his young wife, and all the luxurious indulgence of 
his palatial home, that he might fight in the battles 
of American patriots against British despotism. In 
his application to Congress for employment Lafay- 
ette wrote : 

" After many sacrifices I have the right to ask 
two favors. One is to serve at my own expense ; 
the other to commence serving as a volunteer." 

The commanding air yet modest bearing imme- 
diately attracted the attention of Washington, and a 
life-long friendship was commenced. He said to 
the rich young nobleman who was familiar with the 
splendid equipments of the armies of Europe : 

'' We ought to feel embarrassed in presenting our- 
selves before an officer just from the French army." 

The reply of Lafayette, alike characteristic of him 
and of the polite nation, was : 

" It is to learn, and not to instruct, that I 
came here."* 

For the defence of Philadelphia the militia of 

* " Lafayette from the first attached himself to Washington with 
an affectionate reverence which could not be mistaken ; and soon 
won his way into a heart which, with all its apparent coldness, was 
naturally confiding and required sympathy and friendship." — Irving's 
Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 375. 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 315 

Pennsylvania, Delaware and Northern Virginia were 
called out. Washington with his troops marched 
through the city, and established his headquarters 
at Wilmington, at the confluence of the Brandywine 
and Christiana Creek. There were many tories in 
Philadelphia. Washington wished to make such a 
display of his military' power as to overawe them. 

He rode at the head of the army accompanied 
by a numerous staff. Lafayette was by his side. 
They marched, with as imposing array as possible, 
down Front and up Chestnut street. 

" The long column of the army, broken into 
divisions and brigades, the pioneers, with their axes, 
the squadrons of horse, the extended train of 
artillery, the tramp of steed, the bray of trumpet, 
and the spirit-stirring sound of drum and fife, all 
had an imposing effect on a peaceful city, unused to 
the sight of marshaled armies." * 

While Philadelphia was thus imperiled, General 
Burgoyne was advancing upon the Hudson from 
Canada, with a strong and well-conditioned army.f 

* Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 396. 

\ General Burgoyne was a natural son of Lord Bingley. He was 
of active mind, and ready wit, and as a man of fashion, in all con- 
vivial scenes, stood preeminent. Gambling was then the common 
vice of the British aristocracy. But Junius' accuses Burgoyne of 
cheating at cards. Both Washington and Napoleon endeavored to 
drive the foul practice of gambling from their armies. But for this 
vice, the brave and able General Arnold would probably now be 
enrolled among the most prominent of American patriots. 



3l6 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The tories were flocking to his standard. A large 
band of northern Indians accompanied him. There 
was a very • beautiful girl, Jane McCrea, the daugh- 
ter of a New Jersey clergyman, who was visiting 
a family on the upper waters of the Hudson. 

Her lover, to whom she was engaged to be 
married, was a tory, and was in the British army. 
Under these circumstances she felt no anxiety, in 
reference to her personal safety, from the approach 
of Burgoyne's troops. Still, at the urgent sohcita- 
tion of some of her friends, she decided to embark 
in a large bateau, with several other families, to 
descend the river to Albany. 

On the morning of the intended embarkation, 
suddenly the hideous yell of the savage was heard. 
A demoniac band surrounded the house, and Miss 
McCrea was seized as a captive. A quarrel arose 
among the savages as to who was entitled to the 
prize. In the fray an Indian, maddened probably 
with rum as well as rage, buried his tomahawk 
in her brain. He then stripped off her scalp, and 
her gory body was left unburied. 

Burgoyne was naturally a humane man. He was 
horror-stricken in view of this deed. But the mur- 
derer was a renowned chief and warrior. At any 
attempt to punish him, all the Indians would desert 
his camp. Consequently the crime was unpunished. 



•k 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 317 

The manifest displeasure of Burgoyne exasperated 
the Indians, and they soon all disappeared, carrying 
with them all the plunder they could obtain.* 

The British troops were rendezvoused at Fort 
Edward, not far from Crown Point. The British 
had large forces in this region. They were able to 
detach seventeen hundred • men to besiege Fort 
Schuyler, formerly called Fort Stanwix, on the 
right bank of the Mohawk River, at the head of 
navigation. Colonel St. Leger had command of this 
force. He had gathered a large band of savages. 
From behind the forest trees they kept up a con- 
stant fire upon any of the garrison who exposed 
themselves to repair the parapets when injured by 
shot or shell. At night the woods were filled with 
their fiend-like yells and howHngs. 

A party of eight hundred men was sent to the 
rescue of the garrison. One of the most desperate 
and bloody battles of the Revolution took place. 
Both parties suffered terribly. Each side lost about 
four hundred in killed and wounded. Still the loss 
was by no means equal. The British regulars were 

*" Lieutenant Jones is said to have been completely broken in 
spirit by the shock of her death. Procuring her scalp, with its long 
silken tresses, he brooded over it in anguish, and preserved it as a 
sad, but precious relic. Disgusted with the service, he threw up his 
commission and retired to Canada ; never marrying, but living to be 
an old man, taciturn and melancholy and haunted by painful recollec- 
tions." Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i., p. 378. 



3l8 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

generally the offscouring of the cities of Europe. 
But the Americans who fell were among the most 
worthy and intelligent of husbands and sons in the 
farm-houses of the valley of the Mohawk. Neither 
party admitted a defeat, and neither claimed a vic- 
tory. The Americans still held the fort.* 

The German troops were very reluctant to recog- 
nize the Indians as their allies. One of the Hessian 
officers wrote : 

"These savages are heathens, huge, warlike, and 
enterprising, but wicked as Satan. Some say they 
are cannibals ; but I do not believe it. Though, in 
their fury, they will tear the flesh of the enemy with 
their teeth." f 

Burgoyne was encamped east of the Hudson, 
near Saratoga. A bridge of boats crossed the river. 

* " Old neighbors met in deadly feud ; former intimacy gave bit- 
terness to present hate ; the bodies of combatants were afterward 
found, on the field of battle, grappled in death, with the hand still 
grasping the knife plunged in a neighbor's heart. 

'• The very savages seemed inspired with unusual ferocity, by the 
confusion and deadly struggle around them, and the sight of their 
prime warriors and favorite chiefs shot down. In their blind fury 
they attacked the white men indiscriminately, friend or foe. So that 
in this chance medley fight many of Sir John's greens were slain by 
his own Indian allies." Irving's Life of Washington, vol. i. p. 380. 

f The British officers did not very highly esteem their German 
allies. " The very hat and sword of one of them," it was said, 
" weighed nearly as much as the whole equipment of a British soldier. 
The worst British regiment in the service would march two miles to 
their one," 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 319 

Colonel Baum was despatched by him to Benning- 
ton, with five hundred men, to seize a large amount 
of American stores, which were deposited there. 
The Americans mustered from all quarters to repel 
them, under the rustic but heroic General Stark. 
Riding at the head of his troops, he exclaimed as 
soon as the British appeared in sight : 

*' Now my men ! There are the red-coats. Be- 
fore night they must be ours or Molly Stark will be 
a widow." 

The, clouds of a drenching storm had passed 
away, and a serene morning of surpassing loveliness 
dawned upon the landscape, when five hundred 
British and Hessian regulars met, face to face, seven 
hundred American farmers, many of whom had 
rushed from their firesides, seizing their ordinary 
firelocks without bayonets. 

The battle was fought, on both sides, with equal 
desperation. Baum had artillery well posted. Stark 
had none. The Americans made the assault in front, 
flank, and rear. The British with stolid bravery 
stood to their guns in resistance. After a battle 
of two hours, during which the roar of the conflict 
resembled an incessant clap of thunder, the foe was 
utterly routed. Many were killed, more wounded, 
and more taken prisoners. 

Just then a strong, well-armed reinforcement 



320 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

came to the aid of the British, when the Americans, 
disorganized by victory were, in broken ranks, plun- 
dering the British camp. In vain Stark endeavored 
to rally them. An awful defeat threatened to follow 
their signal victory, when, very opportunely. Colonel 
Seth Warner arrived with fresh American troops 
from Bennington. 

It was four o'clock in the afternoon. .Another 
battle was fought with renewed ferocity. Again the 
American farmers put the British regulars to flight. 
Night alone enabled the fugitives to escape. It was 
a grand victory, both in its immediate achievements 
and its remote results. Four brass field-pieces, a 
thousand stands of arms, and four wagons of ammu- 
nition fell into the hands of the Americans. They 
also captured thirty-two officers, and five hundred 
and sixty-four privates. The number of the British 
who were slain is not known. The battle spread far 
and wide through the forest, and there was probably 
many an awful tragedy as poor wounded soldiers, in 
those gloomy depths, slowly perished of starvation 
and misery. The Americans lost one hundred in 
killed and wounded. 

Language can hardly describe the exultation 
with which the American farmers learned that they 
could meet the British regulars, in the open field, 
and at disadvantage, and yet beat them. From all 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 32 1 

quarters, the young men seized their guns and 
rushed to the American camp. They surrounded 
Burgoyne. They cut off his suppHes. They drove 
back his foraging parties. Burgoyne became alarmed. 
He was far removed from any reinforcements. He 
soon awoke to the terrible apprehension, that he 
might be reduced to the humiliation of surrendering 
his whole army to farmers' boys, whose soldierly 
qualities he had affected so thoroughly to despise. 

Washington was at Wilmington, near Philadel- 
phia, when he heard the tidings of this great victory. 
He was watching the British fleet which, conveying 
an army of nearly twenty thousand men, was evi- 
dently directing its course toward Philadelphia. 
He wrote to General Putnam : 

*' As there is not now the least danger of Gen- 
eral Howe's going to New England, I hope the 
whole force of that country will turn out, and by 
following the great stroke struck by General Stark, 
near Bennington, entirely crush General Burgoyne, 
who, by his letter to Colonel Baum, seems to be in 
want of almost every thing." 

The British troops, who had been sent, under St. 
Leger, to capture Fort Stanwix, and ravage the val- 
ley of the Mohawk, broke up the camp in a panic, 
and fled to Saratoga. They took to flight in such a 
hurry that they left behind them their tents, artillery, 



322 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

ammunition, stores, and most of their baggage. A 
detachment from the garrison harassed them in 
their flight. But they received more severe and 
richly merited punishment from their savage alHes, 
who plundered them mercilessly, massacred all who 
lagged in the rear, and finally disappeared in the 
forest laden with spoil. 

The battle at Bennington took place on the i6th 
of August. Nine days after this, on the 25th of 
August, General Howe began to land his army from 
the fleet, in Elk river, near the head of Chesapeake 
Bay, about six miles below the present town of Elk- 
ton. He was then seventy miles from Philadelphia. 
After sundry marchings and countermarchings, with 
various skirmishes, the two armies met, on the oppo- 
site banks of a small stream called the Brandywine, 
which empties into the Delaware, about twenty-five 
miles below Philadelphia. 

It was the 8th of September. Washington had 
eleven thousand men he could lead into the field. 
They were but poorly armed and equipped. Gen- 
eral Howe had eighteen thousand Regulars ; fifteen 
thousand of whom he brought into action. His 
troops were in the finest condition, both as to disci- 
pline and armament. 

General Howe had learned to respect his foe. 
He advanced with great caution, and displayed 



THE VICISSITUDES OF WAR. 323 

much military ability in his tactics. It was not until 
the nth, that the battle took place. It was fought 
with desperation. Lafayette conducted with great 
heroism, and was wounded by a bullet passing 
through his leg. The Americans, after a very san- 
guinary conflict, were overpowered, and were driven 
from the field. General Howe did not venture to 
pursue them. At Chester, twelve miles from the 
field of battle, the defeated army rallied, as the 
shades of night were deepening around them. 

Dreadful was the consternation, in Philadelphia, 
when the tidings of the disastrous battle reached the 
city. The field of conflict was distant about twenty- 
five miles. Through the day the roar of this awful 
tempest of war had been heard, like the mutterings 
of distant thunder. Patriots and tories, with pale 
faces and trembling lips, met in different groups, 
crowding the streets and squares. Toward evening 
a courier brought the intelligence that the American 
army was in full retreat. Many of the patriots, in 
their consternation, abandoned home and everything, 
and fled with their families to the mountains. Con- 
gress adjourned to Lancaster and subsequently to 
Yorktown. Washington was invested with dictato- 
rial powers, for a distance of seventy miles around 
his headquarters, to be in force for sixty days.* 

* Washington has been censured, by foreign writers, for fighting 
this battle under such disadvantages. But Congress and the country 



324 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Notwithstanding the defeat of the Americans, Gen- 
eral Howe followed the retreating army slowly and 
with great caution. He had not forgotten Washing- 
ton's crossing of the Delaware, and had learned to 
respect the military ability of his foe. He spent the 
night after the battle, and the two following days, on 
the battle-field. Washington quietly retired across 
the Schuylkill to Germantown, but a short distance 
from Philadelphia. His troops were not disheart- 
ened. Overpowered by numbers, they regarded 
their repulse as a check rather than a defeat. 

General Howe reported his loss to be ninety 
killed, six hundred wounded, and six missing. He 
gave the American loss at three hundred killed, six 
hundred wounded and four hundred taken prisoners. 
His estimate of the American loss must have been 
entirely conjectural; since General Washington 
made no return of liis loss to Congress.* 

were clamorous for a battle. Had he surrendered. Philadelphia to 
the English without firing a gun, it would have been the ruin of his 
reputation. The defeat was certainly less injurious upon the public 
mind than a continued retreat would have been. 

* In reference to this conflict, Washington wrote to the President 
of Congress, " But though we fought under many disadvantages, and 
were, from the causes above mentioned, obliged to retire, our loss of 
men is not, I am persuaded, very considerable. I believe much less 
than that of the enemy. We have lost seven or eight pieces of can- 
non, according to the best information I am able, at present, to 
obtain. The baggage having been previously moved off, is all secure, 
saving the men's blankets, which, being at their backs, many of them 
are doubtless lost. Divers officers were wounded, and some slain ; 
but the number of either cannot now be ascertained." 



CHAPTER XL 

The Loss of Philadelphia, and the Capture of 
Burgoyne. 

Philadelphia occupied by the English— Condition of Burgoyne — 
Nature of the Conflict— Treachery of the Indians— Burgoyne's 
Efforts to Escape— Cruel Devastation— The Surrender — Its 
Results — Plans of Washington — His Military Capacity — Battle 
of Germantown — The Panic — Washington's Account of the 
Battle — Results of the Battle — Destruction of Fort Mifflin — 
Atrocities of the British — Encampment at Valley Forge. 

Washington took advantage of the dilatori- 
ness of Howe to prepare to attack him again. 
The two armies were often face to face. Washing- 
ton, with his feeble force, could only harass the foe 
and retard his march. At length, Howe encamped, 
with the main body of his army, at Germantown, 
but a short distance from Philadelphia, and sent 
Cornwallis, with a brilliant staff, and a very magnifi- 
cent array of troops, to take formal possession of 
the city. Washington was by no means in de- 
spair. He wrote to Governor Trumbull : 

'' This is an event which we have reason to wish 
had not happened, and which will be attended with 



326 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

several ill consequences. But I hope It will not be 
so detrimental as many apprehend ; and that a 
little time and perseverance will give us some 
favorable opportunity of recovering our loss, and 
of putting our affairs in a more flourishing con- 
dition." 

In the meantime, prosperity was smiling upon 
the American cause. A noble spirit of patriotism 
imbued the hearts of the people. Burgoyne com- 
plained bitterly that the farmers were all rebels ; 
that at an hour's warning they would abandon 
their plows by thousands, take their own subsist- 
ence with them, and, having achieved any enter- 
prise for which they were called forth, would re- 
turn to their farms. Several fierce battles were 
fought, in none of which did Burgoyne gain any 
advantage, and in all of which his plans were 
thwarted. 

The Americans were rapidly encircling his 
army in folds from which escape would be diffi- 
cult, if not impossible. Famine began to threaten 
him. He tried to retreat, but the Americans 
hedged up his way, and fought with bravery which 
the British regulars had never seen excelled. 
Washington sent a band of Morgan's riflemen to 
their aid. The scene of conflict was over hills and 
dales, covered with a dense forest. In this warfare 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. 327 

Morgan's men were far superior to the trained 
soldiers of England and Germany. Their well- 
aimed bullets produced fearful havoc. The shrewd 
Indians saw that the tides of war were turning 
against them. They never loved the English. 
Without any leave-taking, they disappeared, carry- 
ing with them all the plunder they could seize. 
The Canadians deserted by hundreds."^ 

Burgoyne struggled with the energies of des- 
peration. But all his efforts to escape were in vain. 
The impetuosity with which the Americans rushed 
upon the cannon of the foe, in the face of murder- 
ous discharges of grape-shot, excited the astonish- 
ment of both the British and Hessian officers. 
Many heroic and pathetic scenes occurred which 
we have not space here to record. After a bloody 
battle and a disastrous defeat, Burgoyne made 
another attempt to escape from his terrible foe. 
The night was dark even to blackness. The rain 
fell in torrents. The gale, chill and piercing, pene- 
trated the clothing of the shivering soldiers, and 

* Burgoyne wrote : " From the 20th of September to the 7th of 
October, the armies were so near that not a night passed without 
firing, and sometimes concerted attacks on our pickets. I do not 
believe that either officer or soldier ever slept, in that interval, with- 
out his clothes ; or that any general officer or commander of a regi- 
ment passed a single night without being constantly upon his legs, 
occasionally at different hours, and constantly an hour before day 
light." — Burgoyne' s Expedition, p. 166. 



328 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

moaned its saddest requiems through the gloom 
of the forest. 

On the 9th, they reached Saratoga. A detach- 
ment of Americans had preceded them, and were 
throwing up intrenchments. Burgoyne set fire to 
farm-houses, mansions, granaries, mills. He him- 
self estimated the value of the property destroyed 
at fifty thousand dollars. He excused himself for 
the act on the plea of self-preservation. But gen- 
erally, friend and foe alike condemned the cruel 
deed. 

The sufferings of the British soldiers were awful. 
Drenched with rain, numb with cold, and exhausted 
by their toilsome march, they had no strength to 
cut wood for camp-fires. They sought such repose 
as could be found on the wet ground. Burgoyne 
could retreat no farther. He was surrounded. 
There was no escape. A deadly cannonade was 
opened upon his despairing troops. Scenes of 
horror ensued which could hardly have been sur- 
passed in the realms of Pandemonium. One of the 
British generals exclaimed : 

" I would not for ten thousand guineas see this 
place again. I am heart-broken with what I have 
seen." 

Burgoyne was in despair. A council of war 
was held. They had food, upon short allowance, 



THE LOSS OF PHTLADELPHIA. 329 

but for three days. The cannonade continued. 
Shot were striking all around. While they were 
deliberating, an eighteen-pound ball passed through 
the tent, and swept the table at which they were 
convened. All concurred that surrender was inev- 
itable. The articles were signed on the night of 
the i6th of October, 1777. 

Burgoyne's army was reduced from nine thou- 
sand men to five thousand seven hundred and fifty- 
two. The Americans, under General Gates, num- 
bered ten thousand five hundred and fifty-four men 
on duty. The trophies of this great victory, left 
in the hands of the Americans, were a fine train of 
artillery, seven thousand stand of arms, and a large 
supply of clothing, tents, and military stores. 

The British troops were marched to a particu- 
lar spot, where they grounded their arms. They 
were allowed a free passage to Europe, being pledged 
not to serve again during the war. Gates and Bur- 
goyne met at the head of their respective staffs. 
The British general was in rich, royal uniform. 
Gates appeared in a plain blue frock. 

^' The fortune of war," said Burgoyne, *' has 
made me your prisoner." 

Gates replied : " I shall always be ready to testify 
that it has not been through any fault of your Ex- 
cellency." 



330 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Burgoyne and all his officers bore unequivocal 
and constant testimony to the extraordinary hu- 
manity and politeness with which all the captives 
were treated.* 

Washington was at this time not far from Ger- 
mantown, with a force, including militia, of about 
eleven thousand men. The British fleet could not 
ascend the Delaware to Philadelphia, in consequence 
of obstructions which had been placed in the river. 
Washington wrote to Congress : 

'' If these can be maintained, General Howe's 
situation will not be the most agreeable. For if his 
supplies can be stopped by water, it may easily be 
done by land, and I am not without hopes that the 
acquisition of Philadelphia may, instead of his good 
fortune, prove his ruin." f 

No one familiar with military affairs can critically 
examine the record of these events without the con- 
viction that neither the campaigns of Napoleon I., 
nor of Frederic, called the Great, exhibit any more 
consummate generalship than the commander-in- 
chief of the American armies displayed through 

* The surrender of Burgoyne, though mainly the result of Wash- 
ington's far-seeing plans, had suddenly trumped up Gates into a 
quasi rival. — Irving' s Life of Washington, Vol. II., Mount Vernon 
edition, p, 429. 

\ Letters to the President of Congress. — Sparks' Correspondence, 
Vol. v., p. 71. 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. 33I 

these trying scenes. Washington was head and 
shoulders above any of his generals. There was no 
one of them whom the voice of impartial history 
pronounces to be, in any respect, his rival. There 
was probably not one but he, who could have 
carried our country successfully through the terrible 
ordeal. 

A large force of the British was encamped at 
Germantown, a small village but a few miles out 
from Philadelphia. The settlement consisted of a 
single street, about two miles long, running north 
and south. The houses were generally one story, 
sometimes of stone, standing apart from each other, 
surrounded with yards and gardens. 

Washington, as bold as he was cautious, ever 
watching for an opportunity to strike a blow, and 
ever avoiding to strike where he would receive a 
heavier blow in return, formed the plan to attack 
the foe by surprise. The plan was admirably ar- 
ranged and heroically executed. It would have 
proved a signal success but for one of those acci- 
dents which no human foresight can foresee. 

In the gathering darkness of the evening of the 
2d of October, he commenced a march of fifteen 
miles, over roads so rough that the morning was 
beginning to dawn gloomily through clouds and 
a dense fog, when he approached the British en- 



332 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

campment. The British sentries gave the alarm. 
The roll of drums and bugle-peals raji sublimely 
along the extended lines of the foe, rousing the 
sleepers to battle. Washington hurled his troops 
upon them, with the impetuosity which ever char- 
acterized his attacks. 
» 

Wayne led. The British broke and fled. Hotly 
they were pursued. The fugitives, reaching rein- 
forcements, rallied, and for a short time fought 
bravely. But again they broke in a panic, and ran, 
abandoning their artillery. All were mingled in the 
flight and the pursuit. The Americans, exasperated 
by many cruel deeds of the English, plied the bayo- 
net ferociously. The slaughter was dreadful. The 
officers found it very difficult to restrain their fury to- 
wards those who threw down their arms and cried 
for quarter. In the terrific excitement of such 
scenes, even the most humane men often lose their 
self-possession, and conduct with frenzy which is 
truly maniacal. 

The fog was now so dense that objects could 
with difficulty be discerned at the distance of one 
hundred feet. It was dangerous to use cannon or 
musketry, for in several cases friends had been mis- 
taken for enemies. The Americans, in the full tide 
of victory, were attacking the British in front and on 
the flanks. Two or three times they had unfortu- 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. ' 333 

nately exchanged shots, friend against friend. The 
British had probably done the same. It was a 
frenzied scene of obscurity, tumult, and terror. But 
the British were routed. They fled from their camp- 
ing-ground, abandoning tents and baggage. 

As the Americans rushed forward, they came 
suddenly upon a large body of troops, rapidly ap- 
proaching, like specters, through the fog upon their 
flank. Shots were exchanged. The British had 
already been driven a distance of three miles. The 
troops thus mistaken for the British, were in reality 
some regiments of the Jersey and Maryland militia. 

The appearance of this apparently strong rein- 
forcement of the foe checked the pursuit. Alarm 
was created. The cry arose, '' We are being sur- 
rounded, and cut ofl" from retreat." A panic ensued ; 
and the victorious troops broke and ran. No ap- 
peals can arrest the steps of a panic-stricken army. 
The gloom, created by fog and smoke, was almost 
like midnight darkness. The fugitives soon came 
upon another division of the Americans, pressing 
forward in the flush of victory. 

These troops also mistook the fugitives rushing 
down upon them for the foe, and, in their turn, fell 
into confusion. The British, thus unexpectedly 
rescued from destruction, rallied. Lord Cornwallis 
arrived from Philadelphia with a squadron of light 
horse. The rising sun dispelled the fog. 



334 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

The victory of the Americans was turned into 
a defeat. They retired in good order, taking with 
them all their wounded and their baggage. For 
about five miles a running fight was kept up. The 
British admitted a loss of seventy-one killed, and 
four hundred and twenty-nine wounded and missing. 
The Americans lost one hundred and fifty killed, 
five hundred and twenty-one wounded, and four 
hundred taken prisoners."^ 

In reference to this battle General Sullivan 
wrote : '' I saw, with great concern, our brave com- 
mander-in-chief, exposing himself to the hottest fire 
of the enemy, in such a manner that regard for my 
country obliged me to ride to him and beg him to 
retire. He, to gratify me and some others, with- 
drew to a small distance ; but his anxiety for the 
fate of the day soon brought him up again, where 
he remained till our troops had retreated." 

The battle of Germantown, notwithstanding its 
unfortunate issue, exerted a good effect upon the 

* In Washington's account of the battle he wrote : " Had it not 
been for a thick fog, which rendered it so dark at times, that we 
were not able to distinguish friend from foe at the distance of thirty 
yards, we should, I believe, have made a decisive and glorious day 
of it. Providence designed it otherwise. For after we had driven 
the enemy a mile or two, after they were in the utmost confusion, 
and flying before us in most places, after we were upon the point, as 
it appeared to everybody, of grasping a complete victory, our own 
troops took fright, and fled with precipitation and disorder " 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. 335 

public mind. It convinced the community that our 
army was not disheartened, and that it was still in 
a condition to take the field. * The Count de Ver- 
gennes, in Paris, conferring with the American 
Commissioners, in reference to a treaty of alliance, 
said : * 

" Nothing has impressed me so deeply, as Gene- 
ral Washington's attacking and giving battle to 
General Howe's army. To bring an army raised 
within a year, to do this, promises every thing." 

Washington having received considerable rein- 
forcements, took up a new position at White Marsh, 
about fourteen miles from Philadelphia. Here he 
threw up such intrenchments as to be able to chal- 
lenge the British to attack him. He was also in a 
condition to cut off their foraging parties, and to 
prevent the tories from conveying into the city any 
provisions. 

There were two American forts, commanding 
obstructions on the Delaware, which prevented any 
vessels from ascending with supplies. These were 
called Mifflin and Mercer. Howe concentrated all 

* A British officer wrote : " In this action the Americans, though 
repulsed, showed themselves a formidable adversary, capable of 
charging with resolution and retreating in good order. The hope, 
therefore, of any action with them as decisive, and likely to put a 
speedy termination to the war, was exceedingly abated." — Civil War 
in Atneiica, Vol. I., p. 269. 



336 GEORGE WASHINGTON.' 

the energies of fleet and army for the destruction 
of Mifflin. The conflict was terrible ; American 
valor never shone more brightly than in the de- 
fense against fearful odds. Several times the ad- 
vancing columns of the British were repulsed with 
great slaughter. In one attack they lost, in killed 
and wounded, four hundred men ; while the Ameri- 
cans lost only eight killed, and twenty-nine wound- 
ed. 

Three British war vessels attempted to anchor, 
so as to open fire upon the fort. The Augusta had 
sixty-four guns, the Roebuck forty-four — both frig- 
ates. The Merlin was a sloop of war, eighteen 
guns. There was also a well-armed galley. Many 
other vessels of the fleet were co-operating. To- 
gether they could throw a storm of iron hail upon 
the fort, which it would seem that nothing could 
resist. 

In struggling through the lower line of che- 
vaux-de-frise, the Augusta and Merlin ran aground. 
A red-hot shot, from the American battery, set the 
Augusta on fire. In a terrible panic the crew 
rushed to the boats. With a volcanic explosion, 
whose thunders seemed to shake the hills, the maga- 
zine of the majestic fabric exploded. Several of 
the crew had not escaped. No fragments of their 
mangled bodies were ever found. 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. 337 

There was no escape for the Mci'lin. The British 
themselves applied the torch. The remaining ves- 
sels dropped down the river. 

This discomfiture led Howe to redouble his ef- 
forts for the removal of those obstructions which 
imperiled the very existence of his army.. Gigantic 
efforts were made. Batteries were reared, which 
threw eighteen and twenty-four pound shot. A 
large Indiaman was cut down to a floating battery, 
armed with the heaviest guns. 

At a concerted signal the fire was opened. It 
was terrific. Ships, forts, gondolas, and floating 
batteries, opened their thunders at once. This 
tempest of war raged with deafening roar, such as 
never before had been heard on the shores of the 
New World. Hour after hour, through the long day, 
shot and shell fell like hailstones. Guns were dis- 
mounted, palisades shivered, parapets beaten down 
to the ground, and the slaughter of the heroic gar- 
rison was awful. Nearly every man of a company 
of artillery was killed. Most of the officers were 
wounded. 

Night came, with its gloom and horror. Ruins, 
wounds, blood, death were everywhere. The 
moans of the dying floated away sadly on the night 
air. Tidings of woe were on the way to many a 
farm-house. The fort could no longer be held. 



338 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

Fire was applied to all that was combustible of the 
smoldering ruins, and the surviving officers and 
men retired, by the light of the flames, taking 
with them their wounded and such articles as could 
be removed. A more heroic resistance history has 
not recorded. Under the circumstances, the de- 
feat gave the renown of a victory.^ 

The British now established themselves in Phila- 
delphia, for their winter quarters. Weary of fight- 
ing, and some of them ashamed of the infamous 
cause in support of which they were filling a once 
happy land with death and woe, they devoted their 
time to gambling, drinking, carousing, and all 
those associate vices which have generally attend- 
ed the encampment of an army. The patriotic citi- 
zens were subjected to every indignity. Some were 
driven from their houses, that the British might 
oc-cupy them. Upon some, soldiers were quartered, 
to be fed and housed. Some were plundered. 
When food was scarce, the inhabitants were left to 
hunger, that the soldiers might have abundance. 

As wintry blasts began to sweep the fields, it was 
necessary for Washington to find shelter for his 
troops. About twenty miles from Philadelphia there 
was a glen, densely wooded and well watered, called 
Valley Forge. This spot Washington selected for 

* Life of Talbot, by Henry T. Tuckerman, p. 31. 



THE LOSS OF PHILADELPHIA. 339 

the winter home of his heroic little band. The for- 
est resounded with the blows of the ax, as the gigan- 
tic trees were felled, and there rapidly arose a large 
town, of comfortable log houses, scientifically ar- 
ranged. The settlement was designed to accommo- 
date about eleven thousand men. Each hut was 
fourteen feet by sixteen, and accommodated twelve 
soldiers. The whole encamprnent was so well pro- 
tected by earth-works, that the carousing British 
did not deem it expedient to leave the firesides of 
Philadelphia to make an attack. The streets and 
avenues were neatly arranged, and the large military 
town presented quite a picturesque and cheerful as- 
pect. 

But the suffering here, during the winter of 1777 
and 1778, was very severe. In consequence of inex- 
perience in military affairs, and the incompetency of 
the commissariat department, the troops were left 
in a state of great destitution. They suffered for 
food and clothing. At times they were so destitute 
of arms and ammunition that they could present 
feeble resistance to an enterprising foe. 

Washington was in a state of terrible embarrass- 
ment. He could not loudly make his wants known 
without proclaiming his destitution to the enemy and 
inviting attack. He was therefore compelled, while 
his men were freezing and starving, to let the im- 



340 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

presslon go abroad, that his troops were rejoicing in 
abundance, and were ready, at any moment, to meet 
the British on the battle-field. From sickness and 
suffering the army dwindled down to five thousand 
men. On one occasion he wrote: 

" A part of the army has been a week without 
any kind of flesh, and the rest three or four days. 
Naked and starving as they are, we can not enough 
admire the incomparable patience and fidelity of the 
soldiers, that they have not been ere this, excited by 
their suffering to a general mutiny and desertion." 






'4r 



VJHf 






II 




CHAPTER XII. 
Cemcluding Scenes, 

Embarrassments of the Confederacy — Assaults upon Washington — 
Philadelphia evacuated — Lee's Retreat — England enlists Sava- 
ges — Lord Chatham — British Ravages — Captui-e of Stony Point 
— Efforts of Sir Henry Clinton — Treason of Arnold — Major 
Andre — British at Mount Vernon — Cornwallis at Yorktown — 
Excitement in Philadelphia— News of the Treaty of Peace — 
Washington's Farewell — Resigns his Commission — Chosen 
President — Views of Slavery — Sickness and Death. 

The dreary winter passed slowly away, while 
Washington was making vigorous preparations for 
opening the campaign in the spring. Immensa 
embarrassments arose from the fact that Congress 
did not represent a nation^ but merely a confederacy 
of independent states. Each state decided the pay 
it would offer the troops, and claimed the right to 
retain them at home or to send them abroad at its 
pleasure. These difficulties subsequently led the 
United States to organize themselves into a nation. 
' No man can be in power without being de- 
nounced. Washington was assailed most cruelly. 
He wrote to the President of Congress : 

" My enemies know I cannot combat their insin- 



342 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

uations however injurious, without disclosing secrets 
it is of the utmost moment to conceal. But why- 
should I expect to be exempt from censure, the un- 
failing lot of an elevated station? Merit and talent 
which I cannot pretend to rival, have ever been 
subject to it." 

In these dark hours France generously came to 
the aid of the patriots, struggling for freedom in 
America against such desperate odds. The tidings 
of the French Alliance awoke new emotions of joy 
in the weary hearts at Valley Forge. The British 
army in Philadelphia amounted to not less than 
thirty thousand men. They were greatly alarmed. 
The danger was imminent that a French fleet might 
appear in the Delaware and cut off their retreat by 
water, while the American farmers, thus encouraged, 
would rise en masse and prevent their escape by 
land. This doubtless would have been their doom 
but for a succession of storms which delayed the 
French fleet. 

With precipitation, the British evacuated Phila- 
delphia. Their heavy material of war was shipped 
to New York. The troops marched very cautiously 
through New Jersey. Washington followed closely 
in their rear. The 28th of June was a day of 
intense heat. The British were at Monmouth. 
The march of another day would unite them with 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 343 

the troops in New York. They would then be safe 
from attack. Washington was extremely anxious 
that they should not escape without receiving at 
least one heavy blow. 

Lee was in the advance with five thousand men 
Washington ordered him to make an impetuous as- 
sault, promising to hasten to his support. Instead 
of obeying orders this strange man, of undoubted 
abilities but of inexplicable eccentricity, commenced 
a retreat. Intense, beyond the power of utterance, 
was the chagrin of Washington as he met Lee, at 
the head of his troops, in this retrogade movement. 
In tones of anguish he exclaimed :- What means 
this ill-timed prudence? " Lee instantly replied : 

- I know of no man blessed with a larger portion 
of that rascally virtue than your Excellency." 

There was no time for altercation. Lee's men 
felt humiliated. As soon as they caught sight of 
Washington they greeted him with cheers. 
Promptly they wheeled around at his command, 
and rushed upon the foe. A bloody battle ensued 
with all its oVdinary complications of uproar, 
tumult, woe and death. 

The British were routed and driven from the 
field. The Americans, exhilarated by their success, 
slept upon the field with their arms by their side, 
and impatiently awaited the morning, eager to 



344 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

renew the battle. Signal as had been their success, 
it would have been far more decisive had General 
Lee obeyed orders. General Washington wrapped 
himself in his clo,ak, and slept in the midst of his 
soldiers. 

In the night the vanquished British silently stole 
away. In the morning no foe was to be seen. 
There were left three hundred of the mutilated 
bodies of their dead unburied upon the plain. 
Sixty prisoners w^re taken, and six hundred desert- 
ed the ranks, and scattered through the country. 
They were disgusted with the infamous service into 
which they had been driven by kings and courts, 
and were kindly received by the American farmers. 
At Middletown the remains of the fugitive army, 
protected by the guns of the fleet, embarked and 
were conveyed to New York. 

Thus another summer passed away of marches, 
countermarches and skirmishes, many of them 
bloody and woeful, but without any decisive re- 
sults. The inhuman court of England, disheart- 
ened by the wholesale desertiort of troops, both 
English and German, and disappointed in their in- 
ability to enlist Tories for the war, redoubled their 
efforts to summon the demoniac savages to their 
aid. Loud were the remonstrances against this 
atrocious conduct by many of the noblest men of 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 345 

England, both in the Commons and in the House of 
Lords. But the King and the Court declared, that 
in order to subdue America they had a right to use 
whatever instruments God and nature had placed in 
their hands. The British sent agents to the cruel 
savages of the Mohawk to rouse the fierce warriors 
of the Six Nations against the feeble villages of the 
frontier. It was a demoniac deed. Scenes of hor- 
ror were witnessed too awful for recital. The annals 
of our globe contain scarcely any tragedies more 
awful than the massacres of Cherry Valley and 
Wyoming. The narrative of these deeds sent a 
thrill of horror not only throughout France and 
America, but into multitudes of humane hearts in 
England. Some Englishmen pleaded earnestly for 
us, like Lord Chatham, in the House of Lords. 
We shall never forget his words as he exclaimed, in 
view of these outrages : 

*' Were I an American as I am an Englishman, I 
would never lay down my arms, never — never — 

NEVER." 

Washington sent four thousand men to defend, as 
far as possible, the poor, helpless pioneers from the 
torch and the scalping-knife. Hundreds of lowly 
homes were laid in ashes. Hundreds of families, 
parents and children, were butchered, before the 
savages were driven from their murderous work. 



34^ GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

They fled at length to Niagara, where the British 
received their allies into their fortresses. 

The American army, feeble in numbers, and suf- 
fering from cold and hunger, were led by Washing- 
ton into winter quarters, mainly on the Hudson, 
near West Point. The British remained within 
their lines in the city of New York. Their fleet 
gave them command of the ocean, and they reveled 
in abundance. It would seem that both officers and 
men were a godless set, dead to humanity, and still 
more dead to religion. None but the worst of men 
would engage in so foul an enterprise. They spent 
the winter in dancing, gambling, drinking, and 
every species of dissolute carousal. 

Alarmed by the tidings that France was coming 
to the aid of America, British pride and rage were 
roused to intensity. The spring campaign opened 
with renewed devastation and plunder. Lord George 
Germain had the effrontery to say in Parliament, 
in view of these scenes of massacre and brutal treat- 
ment of prisoners : 

" A war of this sort will probably induce 
the rebellious provinces to return to their allegi- 
ance." 

The sky was reddened with the wanton burning 
of villages. Women and children were driven, house- 
less and without food, to perish in the fields. 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 347 

Fairfield and Norwalk, Connecticut, and many 
other towns were laid in ashes. 

While the British were thus ravaging defenseless 
regions, Washington had no power to face their con- 
centrated armies, yet he was eagerly watching fqr 
every opportunity to strike a blow, where there was 
good prospect of success. To subject his troops to 
almost certain defeat, would not only be cruel, in 
the slaughter which would ensue, but disheartening 
and ruinous to the cause. 

The British had an important fortress at Stony 
Point on the Hudson. General Washington sent 
General Wayne to take it. With great gallantry he 
conducted the enterprise. Sixty three of the British 
were killed, five hundred and forty-three were taken 
prisoners, and all the military stores of the fortress 
were captured. Many similar enterprises were con- 
ducted. With skill, which now seems supernatural, 
this wonderful man, thoughtful, prayerful, and con- 
fident of final success, held the fleets and armies of 
the empire of Great Britain at bay, thwarted all the 
efforts of their ablest generals, and cl9sed the cam- 
paign unvanquished. We know not where to look 
for a record of greater military genius, of more self- 
denying patriotism, of higher nobility of soul, than 
is here displayed. 

Again, as the wintry winds of 1779 swept the field, 



348 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

both armies retired to winter quarters, preparing to 
renew the conflict. With the early spring, the 
British troops were sent abroad in detachments to 
carry on their work of conflagration, blood, and 
misery. Sir Henry Clinton, then in command of 
the British forces, was anxious to crush the Ameri- 
cans before the fleet and army which France was so 
generously organizing should reach these shores. 

In July, twelve French vessels of war with a sup- 
ply of arms and ammunition, and an army of five 
thousand soldiers arrived. But England had by 
this time concentrated a far more formidable fleet 
in our waters, and had greatly increased her armies. 
Thus many felt that even the aid of France could 
be of no avail. Years of war and woe had filled some 
of even the stoutest hearts with despair. Many of 
the truest patriots urged that it was madness longer 
to continue the conflict ; that it was in vain for these 
feeble colonies in their utter impoverishment, any 
longer to contend against the richest and most 
powerful monarchy on the globe. 

General Arnold was in command at West Point. 
He was one of the bravest of soldiers, but a ruined 
gambler. Napoleon I. declared that he would 
never appoint any gambler to any post of responsi- 
bility. Arnold was overwhelmed with these so- 
called debts of honor. He saw no hope for his 



CONCLUDING SCENES. . 349 

country. He could turn traitor, and barter West 
Point for almost boundless quantities of British 
gold. The gambler became a traitor. The treason 
was detected. The traitor escaped, but young 
Andre, who allowed himself to act the part of a spy 
in this foul deed, perished upon the scaffold. He 
was very young. He was surrounded by influences 
which perverted his judgment and deadened his 
conscience. Consequently, great sympathy was felt 
for him, and many tears were shed over his un- 
timely end. 

Britain proudly proclaimed that with her invin- 
cible fleet she ruled supreme over the wild waste 
of waters. The whole ocean she regarded as her 
undisputed domain. Lord Cornwallis was sent with 
a powerful army to overrun North and South Caro- 
lina. He had a numerous fleet to co-operate with 
him. The vigilant eye of Washington was fixed 
everywhere upon the foe, striving to ward off blows, 
and to harass the enemy in his movements. 

Thus the dreary summer of 1780 lingered away, 
over our war-scathed, woe-stricken land. There 
were many bloody conflicts, but no decisive battles. 
Still Washington was victorious ; for he thwarted 
all the herculean endeavors of the British to en- 
slave our land. 

In the opening spring of the year 1 781, the 



350 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

British turned their main energies of devastation 
and ruin against the South. Richmond, in Vir- 
ginia, was laid in ashes. With their armed vessels 
they ravaged the shores of the Chesapeake and the 
Potomac. They landed at Mount Vernon, and 
would have applied the torch to every building, and 
Jrampled down all the harvests, had not the mana- 
ager of the estate ransomed the property by bring- 
ing in a large quantity of supplies. When Wash- 
ington heard of this he was much displeased. He 
wrote to his agent : 

'' It would have been a less painful circum- 
stance to me to have heard that in consequence of 
your non-compliance with their request, they had 
burned my house and laid the plantation in ruins. 
You ought to have considered yourself as my repre- 
sentative, and should have reflected on the bad 
example of communicating with the enemy, and of 
making a voluntary offer of refreshments to them 
with a view to prevent the conflagration." 

Still the prospects of the country were dark. 
The army dwindled away to three thousand men. 
There was no money in the treasury. The paper 
money issued by Congress had become quite value- 
less. The British, exasperated by defeats, and hu- 
miliated in seeing their fleets and armies held at 
bay so long by a foe so feeble, were summoning 



CONCLUDING SCENES 35 I 

their mightiest energies to close the war as with a 
clap of thunder. 

Cornwallis was now with a well-equipped army 
at Yorktown, in Virginia. There was no foe to op- 
pose him. Washington made a secret movement, 
in conjunction with our generous allies, for his cap- 
ture. He deceived the British by making them 
believe that he was preparing for the siege of New 
York. One bright and sunny morning in Septem- 
ber, Cftrnwallis was surprised, and quite astounded 
in seeing the heights around him glistening with 
the bayonets and frowning with the batteries of the 
Americans. And at the same time a French fleet 
was ascending the bay, and casting anchor before 
the harbor. The British general was caught in a 
trap. A few days of hopeless despairing conflict 
ensued, when famine and the carnage of incessant 
bombardment compelled him to surrender. It was 
the 19th of October, 1781. 

Awful was the humiliation of Cornwallis. Seven 
thousand British regulars threw down their arms. 
One hundred and sixty pieces of cannon graced 
this memorable triumph. The noble Washington, 
as the British troops were marching from their 
ramparts to become captives of war, said to the 
Americans : 

*' My brave fellows, let no sensation of satisfac- 



352 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

tion for the triumphs you have gained induce you 
to insult your fallen enemy. Let no shouting, no 
clamorous huzzaing increase their mortification. 
Posterity will huzza for us." 

The next day he issued the following character- 
istic order to the army : 

'' Divine service is to be performed to-morrow, 
in the several brigades aad divisions. The com- 
mander-in-chief earnestly recommends that the 
troops not on duty should universally atteftd, with 
that seriousness of deportment and gratitude of 
heart which the recognition of such reiterated and 
astonishing interpositions of Providence demand 
of us." 

It was midnight when the rapturous tidings 
reached Philadelphia. A watchman traversed the 
streets shouting at intervals, *' Past twelve o'clock, 
and a pleasant morning. Cornwallis is taken." 

These words startled the slumbering citizens, 
almost like the " trump which wakes the dead." 
Candles were lighted, windows thrown up, figures 
in night robes and caps bent eagerly out to catch 
the thrilling sound. Citizens rushed into the 
streets half clad ; they wept, they laughed, they 
shouted, they embraced each other ; the bells were 
rung, the booming of cannon and the rattle of mus- 
ketry were heard in all directions, as men and boys, 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 353 

in the joyful salute, endeavored to give expression 
to their inexpressible joy. 

The news flew upon the wings of the wind, over 
the mountains and through the valleys, no one could 
tell how. The shout of an enfranchised people rose 
like a roar of thunder from our whole land. The 
enthusiasm of the Americans was roused to the 
highest pitch. It was now clear, that, aided by the 
French fleet and the French army, and with such 
supplies of money, arms, and ammunition as France 
was generously affording, the British government 
could not enslave our land. The British were dis- 
heartened. Though they continued their menaces 
of hostility, it was evident that they considered the 
question as settled. Both parties retired to winter 
quarters. During the winter no movements were 
made by either party calling for record. Another 
summer came and went. There were marchings 
and counter-marchings, while neither the English 
nor the Americans seemed disposed to crimson the 
soil with the blood of a general conflict. 

On the night of the 19th of April,, 1783, the joyful 
tidings were communicated to the American army 
that a treaty of peace had been signed in Paris. It 
was just eight years from the day when the awful 
conflict commenced on the plain at Lexington. No 
one but God can know the amount of misery caused 



354 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

by those long years of battle. Thousands had per- 
ished amidst the agonies of the various fields of con- 
flict ; thousands had been beggared ; millions of 
property had been destroyed ; mothers and maid- 
ens whose numbers cannot be estimated had been 
dragged into captivity, a thousand-fold worse than 
death ; and widows and orphans had been consigned 
to life-long poverty and grief. 

Such was the vengeance which the powerful gov- 
ernment of Great Britain wreaked upon these feeble 
colonies for their refusal to submit to intolerable 
despotism. The writer would not wish to perpetu- 
ate the remembrance of these wrongs, still it is not 
the duty of the historian to attempt to conceal or 
palliate atrocious outrages against the rights of hu- 
man nature. It is difficult to find in all the records 
of the past, deeds more inexcusable, more wicked, 
more infamous, than this effort of Great Britain, to 
enslave these infant colonies. 

Late in November, the British embarked in their 
fleet in New York, and sailed for their distant island. 
At the same time Washington, marching with his 
troops from West Point, entered the city. America 
was free and independent, and Washington was the 
universally recognized saviour of his country. There 
was no longer any foe. The army was disbanded 
on the 4th of December. Washington took leave of 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 355 

his companions in arms. His voice trembled with 
emotion as he said : 

** With a heart full of love and gratitude, I now 
take leave of you. I most devoutly wish that your 
latter days may be as prosperous and happy as your 
former have been glorious and honorable. I can- 
not come to each of you to take my leave, but shall 
be obliged if each of you will come and take me by 
the hand." 

Tears blinded his eyes, and he could say no more. 
One after another, these heroic men grasped his 
hand in parting. Not a word was spoken. Slowly 
he journeyed towards Mount Vernon. At every city 
and village he was greeted with the highest tokens 
of love and veneration. On the 23d of December he 
met the Continental Congress at Annapolis. Re- 
signing his commission, he said : 

'/ Having now finished the work assigned me, I re- 
tire from the great theater of action, and bidding an 
affectionate farewell to thy august body, under 
whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my 
commission, and take my leave of all the employ- 
ments of public life." 

Soon a convention was held in Philadelphia to 
organize the Confederacy of States into a nation. 
Essentially the present Constitution was formed. By 
the unanimous voice of the electors, Washington 



356 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

was chosen first President of the United States. He 
was inaugurated on the 30th of April, 1789. Hold 
ing the office two terms of four years each, he re- 
tired again in 1796, to the peaceful shades of Mount 
Vernon. In his farewell address he bequeathed to 
his countrymen a graceful legacy of patriotic coun- 
sel which ever has and ever will excite their pro- 
found admiration. 

Washington, having inherited a large landed 
estate in Virginia, was, as a matter of course, a 
slaveholder. The whole number which he held at 
the time of his death was one hundred and twenty- 
four. The system met his strong disapproval. In 
1786, he wrote to Robert Morris, saying: " There is 
no man living who wishes more sincerely than I do 
to see a plan adopted for the abolition of slavery." 

Lafayette, that true friend of popular rights, 
was extremely anxious to free our country from the 
reproach which slavery brought upon it. Washing- 
ton wrote to him in 1788: "The scheme, my dear 
marquis, which you propose as a precedent to en- 
courage the emancipation of the black people of 
this country from the state of bondage in which 
they are held, is a striking evidence of the state of 
your heart. I shall be happy to join you in so 
laudable a work." 

In his last will and testament, he inscribed these 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 357 

noble words : *' Upon the decease of my wife, it is 
my will and desire that all the slaves which I hold 
in my own right shall receive their freedom. To 
emancipate them during her life would, though 
earnestly wished by me, be attended with such in- 
superable difficulties, on account of their mixture 
by marriage with the dower negroes, as to excite 
the most painful sensation, if not disagreeable con- 
sequences, from the latter, while both descriptions 
are in jthe occupancy of the same proprietor ; it not 
being in my power, under the tenure by which the 
dower negroes are held, to manumit them." 

Long before this he had recorded his resolve. 
" I never mean, unless some particular circum- 
stances should compel me to it, to possess another 
slave by purchase ; it being among my first wishes 
to see some plan adopted by which slavery in this 
country may be abolished by law." 

Mrs. Washington, immediately after her hus- 
band's death, learning from his will that the only 
obstacle to the immediate emancipation of the 
slaves was her right of dower, immediately relin- 
quished that right, and the slaves were at once 
emancipated. 

The 1 2th of December, 1799, was chill and damp. 
Washington, however, took "his usual round on 
horseback to his farms, and returned late in the 



358 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

afternoon, wet with sleet, and shivering with cold. 
Though the snow was clinging to his hair behind 
when he came in, he sat down to dinner without 
changing his dress. The next day, three inches of 
snow whitened the ground, and the sky was 
clou4ed. Washington, feeling that he had taken 
cold, remained by the fireside during the morning. 
As it cleared up in the afternoon, he went out to 
superintend some work upon the lawn. He was 
then hoarse, and the hoarseness increased as night 
came on. He, however, took no remedy for it ; 
saying, " I never take anything to carry off a cold. 
Let it go as it came." 

He passed the evening as usual, reading the 
papers, answering letters, and conversing with his 
family. About two o'clock the next morning, 
Saturday, the 14th, he awoke in an acutechill, and 
was seriously unwell. At sunrise, his physician. 
Dr. Craig, who resided at Alexandria, was sent for. 
In the meantime, he was bled by one of his over- 
seers, but with no relief, as he rapidly grew worse. 
Dr. Craig reached Mount Vernon at eleven o'clock, 
and immediately bled his patient again, but without 
effect. Two consulting physicians arrived during 
the day: and, as the difficulty in breathing and 
swallowin'g rapidly increased, venesection was again 
attempted. It is evident that Washington then 



CONCLUDING SCENES. 359 

considered his case doubtful. He examined his 
will, and destroyed some papers which he did not 
wish to have preserved. 

His sufferings from inflammation of the throat, 
and struggling for breath, as the afternoon wore 
away, became quite severe. Still he retained his 
mental faculties unimpaired, and spoke briefly of 
his approaching death and burial. About four 
o'clock in the afternoon, he said to Dr. Craig: '' I 
die hard ; but I am not afraid to go. I believed, 
from my first attack, that I should not survive it : 
my breath cannot last long." About six o'clock, 
his physician asked him if he would sit up in his 
bed. He held out his hands, and was raised upon 
his pillow, when he said: '^ I feel that I am going. 
I thank you for your attentions. You had better 
not take any more trouble about me, but let me go 
off" quietly. I cannot last long." 

He then sank back upon his pillow, and made 
several unavailing attempts to speak intelligibly. 
About ten o'clock, he said: ''I am just going. 
Have me decently buried, and do not let my body 
be put into the vault until three days after I am 
dead. Do you understand me?" To the reply, 
"Yes, sir," he remarked, " It is well." These were 
the last words he uttered. Soon after this he 
gently expired, in the sixty-eighth year of his age. 



360 GEORGE WASHINGTON. 

At the moment of his death, Mrs. Washington 
sat in silent grief at the foot of his bed. '' Is he 
gone?" she asked in a firm and collected voice. 
The physician, unable to speak, gave a silent signal 
of assent. ** 'Tis well," she added, in the same un- 
tremulous utterance. '* All is now over. I shall 
soon follow him. I have no more trials to pass 
through." 

On the 1 8th, his remains were deposited in the 
tomb at Mount Vernon, where they now repose, 
enshrined in a nation's love; and his fame will 
forever, as now, fill the world/'^ 

* Abbot's Lives of the Presidents. 



